


This Feeling

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, Characters other than Louis and Harry only briefly mentioned, Dom/sub Undertones, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Fluff, Explicit Sexual Content, Face-Fucking, Face-Sitting, Hand Jobs, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Riding, Rimming, Teasing, They're filthy, alcohol use, drug mention, past zouis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-15 07:17:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 58,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8047393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Gonna play it back for you now." Louis clicked play and the song flooded through Harry’s headphones. The sound of each others voices united into one, and the rhythm of the music carried their voices effortlessly. Harry’s insides tingled and a wave of shivers rolled down his spine.Before the clip cut off, Harry turned to raise an eyebrow at Louis, and failed miserably at disguising his smile. Louis stared back at him in shock.Or A Larry Duet AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have no knowledge on the music industry, contracts, or the production of music itself, BUT I did do as much research, as I felt, possible. Either way, this is purely fiction, and I'm so excited for you all to read. Oh, and Harry is American in this fic.
> 
> I encourage feedback! Please let me know if you catch any spelling/grammar errors.
> 
> Enjoy!

It’s a cliche as old as time.

An aspiring musician from an unheard of town chooses to live out their dream, disappointing their parents in the process, packs up and moves to LA, swearing by their craft that they really have a shot at this life. The life that included their name flashing in bright lights, masses of people flocking to their stage, screaming the words they wrote right back in their face. Infamy, notoriety, money, drugs, sex, booze all at their disposal.

A few musicians would say, _none of that matters_ , or, _its about the music_ , and mean it. Those people were the exception to the cliche.

Harry Styles was not.

Sure, at one point it was all about the music for him. He began singing lessons at a young age and was practically attached to the first guitar he received on his eighth birthday. Playing didn’t come to him naturally, but over the years he grew into it, practicing day and night until his fingers were blistered and calloused. He was the front man of a fair share of shitty bands in his teens, but ultimately decided all he needed was his voice and a well tuned guitar. His parents never failed to remind him that this was strictly a “hobby" and that he needed to focus more on his studies to be able to provide for himself. He didn’t want to though. Nothing felt as right to him as performing.

Harry had clearly lost sight of that now as he sits at the end a glass conference table, pouring himself a glass of cucumber and lemon water, hoping it will quench his dehydration from a night of downing Grey Goose and all the sugary-sweet mixed drinks available. If you asked him what the cause for celebration was, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. All he knew, was he was young, signed, and well on his way to making it.

It took him a while but Harry considered himself lucky.

He's been in LA for three years now. He spent the first two living in a cramped studio apartment right above the bar he worked at. He exhausted himself. Grinding through double shifts six out of seven days a week. He would charm the tourists by day, trudge back upstairs to his living quarters, eat, sleep, and freshen up, before making his way back down, and tending to the brazen party-goers by night. It wasn’t the glitz and glamour he imagined LA to be, but he pushed through it, and saved every single tip he earned to invest in equipment to record a few demos with.

By the third year, Harry was discovered in a bar. A juice bar.

At the time, Harry would take any gig he could get, just wanting to perform, and remind himself why moving here was the right decision. The juice bar held open mic nights regularly and Harry managed to snag a Thursday evening slot. He set up in the corner of the building with one tiny amp, a mic on top of its stand, his beat-up-worn-out guitar, and a stool to sit on.

He kept true to the nonconformist scene by covering mostly indie and alternative anthems, but between a few songs he’d squeeze in his original work, hoping to pique at least one persons interest with the words and sounds straight from his soul. As he confidently bellowed through his set he noticed a pair of eyes on him. It was a man who was clearly older, if his crows feet were anything to go by, but in his own way was rather attractive. Soft green eyes, black hair slightly greying at the sides, he was casually dressed, but Harry didn’t miss the rolex sitting pretty on his wrist.

Harry hadn’t gotten off with someone in who knows how long, but was he up for a one nighter with a man who was possibly twice his age? He thought about it through the duration of his set, and the more he caught glimpses of the mans eyes locked on him, the more the idea started to sound not bad.

He realized he was getting way ahead of himself and would let fate decide if anything should happen or not. He smiled coyly and shot the man a barely there wink before finishing up the rest of his set.

“Thank you! You’re all _juice_ the cutest,” to this day he’s still a little upset no one laughed at his magnificent pun, “I’m Harry Styles and I’ll see you soon.”

He hopped up off the stool and began to pack his things. He placed his guitar gently in it’s case and broke down his cheap, yet durable mic stand. As he was pulling the wires from his amp and mic, he felt someone tap softly on his shoulder. He turned to look at the man in front of him—

“Hi—sorry to interrupt—my name is Chris,” he extended his hand out to Harry and grasped his own firmly, “Normally I have scouts out doing this job for me, but I had some time to kill and ended up here,” he pointed in the direction of the half empty juice bar and smiled back at Harry politely, "I’m the A&R Director at Sony Entertainment—”

Sony Entertainment.

Holy shit, did he actually just say Sony Entertainment? It took everything in Harry’s power not to let his jaw drop like he felt it would at any second. The man, Chris, was further explaining his position, but the only thing that was running through Harry’s mind was _A &R Director at Sony Entertainment_, and to make it simple, this was the man responsible for finding and signing new music talent. And he was introducing _himself_ to Harry.

Somewhere along Harry’s cluttered thoughts, Chris began to stare back at him expectantly, “Um—Hi, um, I’m Harry, it’s a pleasure,” he stuttered out. Jesus. Now was not the time to become a fidgety, stuttering, mess. Harry slightly shook himself and shifted his aura into business mode. “Is there something I can do for you, Chris?”

“Yes, actually,” he pulled out his wallet from his pocket and plucked a business card from one of the folds. He looked back up to Harry, “You are actually kind of what I’ve been looking for,” Harry wouldn’t admit he blushed at that but his cheeks reddened and he did a poor job concealing it, “At the moment we don’t have a marketable, alternative artist signed, and we would really like to change that. We believe the genre is coming back from the dead in America, and we have to hit the peak of interest within the next few years, or the genre, and artists along with it, will fizzle back into irrelevancy.”

Harry let his explanation set in, “Makes sense,” he dropped the cords into his bag and crossed his arms over his chest. Alternative? Harry always knew he was a bit odd, but he never considered himself to fall under the alternative label. He didn’t even consider the music he made to fall under that genre. Maybe his definition of the word was outdated, “How does that make me ‘what you’ve been looking for’?”

The man smirks and lets out a deep laugh, “Don’t take this the wrong way, Harry, but look at you,” he gestured his hand up and down Harry’s body, “The curls, the eyes, the dimples,the tattoos, the whole ensemble,” he listed out “Obviously you’d need a bit of polishing but you have a potentially very marketable look, and don’t get me started on your voice,” he handed over the business card he’d been holding onto and tucked it between Harry’s fingers, “You have a demo, kid?”

Harry nodded his head immediately, “Yes, I have a few, actually.”

“Good,” he pulled out a few dollar bills and dropped them into Harry’s still open guitar case. He shoved his wallet back in his pocket and squared his shoulders, “Drop off a few copies to the address on that card by 9 am tomorrow. Just walk up to the front desk, leave your name and contact information, and tell the woman at the desk Chris sent you. You should hear back from somebody within the next three to five business days.”

Harry felt nerves begin to bubble in his stomach and his knees began to faintly buckle. Could this be it? Was this how he was going to make it? Were all the years of mixing drinks and further disappointing his parents going to be officially put behind him?

“Yes sir,” he reached out and shook the man’s hand firmly one last time, “Thank you for this.”

“Don’t mention it,” he began to walk away, “Oh, and before i forget, practice the wink. Was more of a twitch.”

Harry’s face flushed completely and the tips of his ears were flaming, “Right, sorry about that.”

Harry went the next morning and the world as he knew it was flipped upside down from then on.

He was given proper vocal training, and had his worn acoustic guitar replaced with a gleaming, beyond over-priced, new one. They replaced his wardrobe with designer brand clothing and shoes that he would never be able to afford with his bartending job and measly open mic gigs. They trimmed his curly locks enough to make them healthy again, and supplied him with endless amounts of hair care products he would never figure out how to use.

He was given a company car, moved into a company owned condo somewhere tucked between the Hollywood Hills, and was granted unlimited recording time in the studio that was attached.

He was sent out to make appearances at company sponsored events and was deemed “up and coming” or "someone to keep your eye on”. Harry would sing a few covers and bask in the attention he received following his performances. He wasn’t even famous yet, but it seemed all of LA’s socialites and elitist had no problem hanging off him, and keeping his mouth occupied with top shelf liquor.

Harry quickly found out how easy it was to slip into the party scene. He was suddenly spending more time in clubs and bars than he was in his own bed. Before long, his team strongly advised him to cut back until he had a proper single ready to put out.

He had to cancel a few studio sessions since his voice was always shot after a night of throwing back various shots and drunkenly screaming at the top of his lungs, but Harry failed to see the harm in it. In his mind, it was just like calling in sick for work. That’s what most people in their early twenties did anyways, right?

Now, Harry pushed back from the glass conference table, and chugged down his glass of cucumber and lemon water. For once he was the first one to arrive to Sony’s offices and into conference room 4. Meetings that were held here were usually to discuss his image. More than half of the time by a team of people who never included him on the decision making process. Most days he sat back quietly catching up on sleep from the night before. They knew what they were doing anyway and he would be famous in no time.

He set the empty glass on the table and planted his elbows next to it. He ran his fingers through his hair, and slowly massaged away the throbbing pain. He closed his eyes and began to slip into an undisturbed sleep.

His quiet time was quickly interrupted by a stream of people dressed in business professional attire, looking over one another’s files, and taking their seats at the conference table.

Harry sat up and made himself somewhat presentable with a sleepy forced smile on his face. He pushed his curls up over his head and behind his ears and straightened out his patterned button up.

The last person to enter the room was Chris. He met Harry’s eyes and gave him a curt nod. He took his seat at the other end of the table and poured himself a glass of water. Conversations seemed to die down at his presence and Harry noticed the people around him lowering their eyes to not make direct eye contact with him. Did he look as shitty as he felt?

“Good morning, everybody,” a murmured response of _good morning_ was greeted back by a few people, “Thank you all for being here so early and I won’t keep you long, I know we have plenty to catch up on, so lets cut right to the chase—“ seemingly everyone in the room tensed. Harry tried to make eye contact with anyone from his team but none of them budged, keeping their heads lowered and eyes drawn away from him, “Harry.”

Harry shifted his gaze over to Chris, “Good morning.” he rasped out. Fuck, his voice sounded horrible.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” he paused pulling out a stack of papers from a folder that was handed to him by his assistant, “You have twenty-four hours to read over this, sign, and return it, and be moved out of the company condo, and into the new one-bedroom apartment we have generously provided for you. If you decide to not go through with signing the contract in front of you, there will be a lawsuit in your name by tomorrow afternoon. As for the moving you are to pack only your personal belongings and leave the rest as it was when you first arrived.”

Harry felt like he’d just been slapped. What the fuck was going on? “I’m sorry—What is this? What’s going on?”

“Well to put it bluntly, Harry, we’re dropping you.”

All the air in the room vanished. Harry’s throat felt like it was closing in, and the left-over alcohol in his stomach, was threatening to spill over on top of the glass table at any second. “You’re dropping me—How—Why? Is this possible? I haven’t even put out an album yet let alone a single—“

“It is possible, Mr. Styles, and the decision was unanimous. Your team has deemed you unprofessional and difficult to work with, you’re out partying well into the night, leaving with God knows who, and doing God knows what. On top of that, you’ve cancelled enough studio sessions to where I’m losing money flying producers and writers out to work with you, and you’re to busy with your head practically attached to the toilet bowl. Bottom line, I have to hear it from your team and the people above me that we’re losing money investing in you. It’s been far too long since we’ve agreed to take you on, and you haven’t managed to present one potential single.”

Harry’s stomach dropped and it felt like a bucket of ice cold water was splashed over his head. His throbbing headache was starting to creep its way back into his skull and his vision was beginning to blur at the edges.

“The contract is basically you agreeing to let us keep what you have already written and recorded, and any photographs taken for this project, are ours to keep as well."

Wait a sec—

“Why do you get to keep my recordings?” Harry belted out and winced at the sharp pain it caused at the back of his head, "It’s my work! Those are my words and it’s my voice, AND my face, why should that not be afforded to me?” Harry’s brain was all over the place but this was his art, and it wasn’t fair that he wouldn’t be able to keep it, no matter how fucked up they thought he was.

“Right, your voice recorded in a Sony studio, your words co-written with Sony writers, those songs being mixed and mastered by Sony producers, and your face photographed by Sony photographers.” Harry stiffened at the sharpness of his tone, “You also signed a contract promising this company an album by the end of this year. Clearly a task you would have failed to deliver on.”

Harry scrubbed his palms over his eyes fighting back tears of rage. His entire world was falling apart right in front of him, and there was nothing he could do, but succumb to the damage.

"I’ve been in this business a very long time, Harry, and I’m going to make this as simple as as possible, for you to understand,” he regrouped and leaned back in his chair, "Sign over your rights to the songs and images, and there is still a possibility of you having a future in this industry. If you choose not to sign them over you will have everything you’ve ever loved stripped from you, and you’ll be paying us back until the day you die.” He raised a challenging eyebrow at Harry, daring him to utter out any kind of response. Harry stayed silent and let his words soak in, “Like I said you have twenty-four hours—“

“I’ll sign it.” Harry cut him off. He uncapped the pen that was handed to him by someone to his right and began initialing and signing his name where it as required. He shoved the papers forward, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his face away to avoid any faux sympathetic looks.

“If no one has anything to add, I need Mr. Styles to turn in his keys to the company car, and the company condo, immediately. I also need someone to volunteer their intern for the day to drive him over and help move him out,” a woman offered up her interns assistance and Harry carelessly tossed the keys onto the table, “This meeting is adjourned. Please, carry on with your work day.”

Harry pouted to himself as he watched all the corporate asshole’s exit the room. Chris being the worst of them all. He sat their practically boiling in his anger. He was angry at his team for not restricting him as much as they could have, angry at Chris for forcing him to hand over his music and images on a silver platter, but most of all, angry with himself for completely fucking up what was probably his only opportunity of making it big. Somewhere along the line the vision was lost and his career was no longer about the music.

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts when a boy around his age came to collect him. He wanted to deck the kid and tell him to quit the corporate world while he still could, but he figured that wouldn’t make him feel any better.

Why kill someone else’s dream when his was just obliterated moments ago?

\--

They arrived to the company owned condo and began to pack all of Harry’s belongings. Harry managed to sneak the company paid for wardrobe, in between his own, and shoved it in the back of the interns car. He slammed the door shut getting out the smallest amount of aggression that was building within him. He scrubbed a hand over his face, and through his hair, and marched back up to the condo to retrieve the rest of his things.

After they had the car filled to the brim with Harry’s belongings, they drove to the center of LA where Harry’s new apartment, and life, awaited him. They climbed out of the packed car, and Harry walked up to the front desk to find out where he was going to be living, and for how long.

The woman at the front desk handed him a key to apartment 402 and explained how Sony Entertainment _generously_ paid his lease for the next thirteen months, and the only thing he would have to do is furnish it himself. All things considered, Harry knew he was let off extremely easy. The apartment was located in a nice area of downtown and came with pretty impressive amenities.

He exited the front office, and began lugging his belongings into the elevator, and on to the fourth floor. He dropped his belongings in front of the door, with the intern following behind, clearly exhausted from carrying bags half his size.

Harry unlocked the door and took a look around.

The apartment opened up to a spacious kitchen that was connected to a decent sized living room. The kitchen had grey granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and dark wooden cabinets to balance out the color scheme. The floors were dark wood and the living area had a balcony attached that provided a view of the buildings surrounding him.

He walked in further to check out what was behind the door between the living room and kitchen. He walked through the door revealing to his left was the bedroom and to his right was a bathroom. He peeked through the door of said bathroom and saw a shower with glass doors, a toilet, and freshly cleaned tile floors. The countertop imitated white marble but Harry knew it probably wasn’t the real thing. All in all, this place was likely the nicest he’ll live in for a while.

He looked himself in the mirror for the first time since being dropped and realized just how affected he looked.

His eyes were rimmed red, his skin was ghostly pale, and his curls were strewn in different directions from being tugged and pulled as a short term stress reliever. He sighed at his reflection defeatedly and walked back out to the living room. He saw the intern struggling to push his shit into the doorway and took pity on him.

“I’ll get whats left from the car and you can be on your way.”

The intern quickly agreed, following Harry into the elevator, and out onto the street. Harry grabbed two more boxes and threw one last bag over his shoulder sending the boy off with a wave. He rode up the elevator one last time and entered his new apartment again. He’ll have to buy a bed and couch and other furniture soon, but that shouldn’t be a problem since he saved up from preforming and making Sony related appearances.

Fuck.

Harry was going to have to start from the bottom all over again.

Well, sort of from the bottom. At least he had a place to live.

He decided he would avoid facing his problems by showering and sleeping off the rest of his lingering hangover.

Figuring out a plan was Future Harry’s problem, and frankly, he's just going to let him deal with that.

\--


	2. Chapter 2

After sleeping off his hangover completely, and showering off his shame, Harry spent the rest of the day being a responsible adult.

He ubered to the nearest furniture store, purchased basic sets that were necessary per room, and splurged on the same day delivery. He took a bus to the nearest market and loaded up on just enough food, shampoos, and other human essentials, to survive. Once he made it back to his apartment, he decided he should probably get a head start on the job hunting.

He walked up and down a few blocks looking for any place that was hiring, or at the very least, accepting applications.

He was so fucking tired and emotionally drained by the time he retreated back to his new home, but still had to let the movers in when they arrived with his furniture. He managed to direct the workers on where to place what, and sent them off with a hefty tip for making his life just a little bit easier.

He exhaled a long breath before flopping down on his new couch and letting his emotions take over him. Hot tears of frustration streamed down his cheeks, he sniffled lightly through his nose, and his throat slightly closed in as he choked back sobs of regret. He ran his fingers through his hair and clenched his fists, tugging at the roots, replaying his life changing morning over, and over again in his head.

_We’re dropping you_

_It was unanimous_

_Difficult to work with_

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, and turned over on his couch, hugging his knees to his chest. He was still so angry at himself for being irresponsible. There his dream was, close enough he could reach out and grab it, yet once he got a taste for the life that comes with the fame, he was a goner.

Fuck.

Harry needed to get out of this apartment. His thoughts were beginning to suffocate him and he wasn’t too fond of anxiety. He let out one final sob and wiped his face clean of any remaining evidence that he just had a mini break down.

He sat up and checked the time on his phone. It was nearly 8:30 pm and Harry decided that was late enough for a mind-numbing drink or two.  
  
He walked over to his new room and rummaged through the pile of clothes he’s yet to put away. He attempted to throw together an outfit appropriate enough for a bar in this hipster infested city. He narrowed it down to his tightest ripped black jeans, a black and white patterned button-up, and his highly cherished black, Saint Laurent leather harness boots.

He went into the bathroom, splashed some water over his face, and tied his hair back into a bun, tugging out curls to make it look artfully messy, but still acceptable. His eyes and lips were slightly swollen, but he decided there was nothing he could do about it, and just hoped it wasn’t to obvious to any passerby's.

He exited his bathroom and collected his phone, keys, and wallet, and went to the kitchen to leave the stove light on for when he arrived back. He swiftly exited out of the front door and locked it behind him.

He didn’t really know the area and had no friends in this city, but that wasn’t going to stop him from finding a bar near by and drinking away his memory.

 

\--

 

Harry found himself outside of a pretentious, minimalistic-looking bar, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the advertisement for an open mic night taking place in less than ten minutes. The sting of being dropped still hadn’t dulled, and the itch to redeem himself in this bar was beginning to take over him. The only thing stopping him was him not having a guaranteed slot. He’d have to sit back and watch someone else potentially get discovered like he did. Someone who wouldn’t take it for granted like he did, someone deserving, and hard working.

Harry let out a growl at this hypothetical person getting everything he had and not fucking it up like he did.

He realized the bouncer was eyeing him and he decided to get his shit together and stop being so dramatic. He walked up, fished out his ID out of his wallet, and handed it over to the burley man.

He looked Harry up and down, and looked back at the card, making sure it was him.

“Enjoy your evening.” he handed Harry his card back and let him through.

Harry wasted no time and headed straight for the bar waving down the first bar tender available to make him the sweetest and strongest mixed drink they had to offer. 

As he scanned over the various bottles of alcohol, he could hear the static of a mic being plugged in, and the strings of an acoustic guitar being tuned. It took everything in him not to turn around and lash out, but as he was contemplating his attack, his drink arrived, and he ordered another without even taking his first sip.

“Good evening people of Los Angeles,” a soft British voice spoke into the mic behind him. Harry distracted himself by chugging down his drink, “My name is Louis and I take requests, but let’s start off with something more [recent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCQLLR4zHmo), yeah?”

Harry wanted to _request_  he _piss right off_  back to England, but then his second drink was placed in front of him, and he sucked the straw into his mouth, successfully disregarding any plans of being rude. He still felt the buzz on his lips from the first drink and he started to feel his muscles release the tension he’d been harboring all day. He sucked down a quarter of his second drink and heard guitar strings being plucked and a soft-spoken voice stream through the speakers.

Harry let the straw slip from his mouth at the sweet sound of this person’s voice. He was frozen there as the familiar melody enveloped him and sent shivers up his skin. He hadn’t even seen who was behind the voice yet, but the small rasps and little breaths between words we’re so appealing.

He slowly turned his head and willed himself not to choke on air.

The person, man, behind the voice was fucking stunning. Dressed in black from head to toe, sheer scoop neck clinging to his curvy torso, and his seemingly painted on jeans hugged his thighs, and sent Harry's salivary glands into over-drive. His hair was artfully pushed back over his forehead and a few strands of his chocolatey locks framed the sides of his face. Harry’s eyes glazed over as he noticed the ink scrawled across his collar bones and the rest in random patches across his arms.

Well, at least they had that in common.

Harry turned back around and began sucking down his sugary sweet beverage with a purpose. He waved the bar tender over and waited patiently for her to make her way towards him.

“Another one of these?” she asked already getting started on his third drink.

“Yes thank you,” he pulled out his wallet stuffing a couple of dollar bills in her tip jar, “Also, can you tell me what you know about the gentlemen on stage right now?”

She looked up from the concoction in her hands and smirked when she realized who he was asking about, “Louis?” Harry shook his head vigorously in agreement, “What do you want to know?”

_If he’s down to let a screw up like me wine, dine, and sixty-nine him, and live a happy life together in The Hills with our three kids, and two dogs._

“Does he play here often?” is what Harry rationally settled on.

“He’s mostly here on weekends this is his first Thursday,” she poured Harry’s drink into a glass and slid it over, “Anything else?” she smirked all too knowingly. He must get creeps like Harry after him all the time.

“Do you think I have a chance in hell?”

She outright laughed in his face and gave his hand on top of the counter a squeeze, “I wouldn’t bet on it, but, ya’ know, never say never and all that.”

Harry let out a depreciating laugh and brought his drink closer to his lips, “Thanks.”

She smiled and moved on to the next person waving her down.

Harry gazed back over to where Louis had began to play a new song. He watched in awe, as this was possibly the most attractive person he’s come across in his three years of being here, and he was so fucking talented on top of that.

Harry followed Louis’ eyes as he scanned over the dimly lit room. His eyes were moving dangerously closer, and closer, until Louis stared directly back at him.

Harry’s breath caught in his chest, but successfully played it off by taking a deep slurp of his sugary drink. Louis’ lips curled slightly at the ends and he moved his eyes down to watch his own fingers play. Harry quickly checked his face in the reflection of his phone. His hair was still in tact on top of his head and his lips were ruby red and shiny from the chilly drinks he’s been throwing back. Harry internally celebrated knowing he at least looked the part of a good fuck.

He leaned back against the bar elongating his body and crossing one leg over the other. Once Louis’ gaze made its was back towards him he wrapped his lips around the straw and began sucking down his drink, hollowing out his cheeks obscenely, and swallowing the liquid down with a satisfied smirk. He probably looked like a lunatic, but Louis didn’t take his eyes off him. He took a second slurp from the straw, swallowed with a wink, and licked his lips clean.

Just as he was uncrossing his legs to stand to his full height Harry felt the weight of another body crash against his leg, and liquid spilling across his ankles.

“Oh—fuck—are you okay?” Harry bent down to help the girl he accidentally tripped.

“Yeaaah I’m good. That one was totally on me—oops!” she slurred out and she hobbled back to a standing position. Her friends carried her off into another direction and Harry wiped down the mess at his feet.

He chanced a glance back up to the stage and blushed hard when Louis was full on grinning and shaking his head slightly. His voice was still effortless as ever even when holding a laugh back. Harry figured he’d save himself more embarrassment and go clean up in the restroom.

When he pushed through the restroom door he let out an exasperated breath he’d been holding. He brought his hands up to his hair to pull, only to be stopped by the fact that it was thrown up in a bun. He sighed and grabbed a hand full of paper towels, and gripped his ankles to let the liquid soak through.

He pulled his phone from his back pocket and saw the time was nearing 10. Harry decided he should probably call it a night and go close out his tab. He crumpled up the vodka soaked paper towels and gave himself one last look over in the mirror. He exited the facilities and made his way back over to the bar.

He made eye contact with the same bar tender that had been serving him all night, and waved her over. She walked over with a grand smile on her face and pulled a napkin from her apron.

“Got something for you!” she handed it over giving Harry time to read it.

_Don’t worry, I'm sure no one saw that. Come say hi after the set._

_-Louis_  

Harry beamed at the note and looked back towards Louis who threw his own wink at him still strumming and signing along to a song.

“Looks like I should have placed my bets on you, huh?” Harry looked back towards the bar tender and let out a shy laugh.

“Let’s not get to ahead of ourselves. He just want’s me to say hi.”

She rolled her eyes and took the empty glasses from in front of him, “Another one?”

Harry felt like he no longer wanted the buzz alcohol provided for him, he had enough of that coursing through his veins at the thought of meeting this gorgeous, talented man, later.

“I think I’m good for the night.” he reached into his wallet, handed over his debit card, and shoved a few more dollar bills in the tip jar.

“Good luck!” she handed his card back and he let out a quiet _thanks_  and turned his vision back toward the stage.

He was going to need it.

 

\--

 

“Thank you all for this evening,” Louis gave the people in the bar a wave “I’m Louis, I hope you enjoyed, drive safe.” he ended his set and began removing the guitar from his body.

Harry didn’t want to seem to eager but he knew how much being your own roadie sucked. He let Louis pack away his guitar and took it as his cue to walk over.

He strode over confidently until he got a view of Louis turning around and bending over to clear some cords away.

Jesus, this man had an ass on him, and Harry was always a self-proclaimed ass man. He indulged himself for a couple more seconds, taking in the perfect curve of his bottom, and walked the rest of the way over.

He cleared his throat and was about to speak when—

“Like what you see, eh?” God he was never going to get over that accent.

“I—um,” Harry struggled to remember words, “I was just coming over to ask if you needed help—I was’t—It was just in my line of vision. I wasn’t trying to objectify you or anything—shit. I'm sorry.”

Louis let out a chuckle at that and stood to his full height. He was a few inches shorter than Harry and even more beautiful this close up. “I’m just messing with you, babe,” he smiled and rubbed Harry’s arm reassuringly, “If you really want to help that’d be great. My car is parked out back.”

Harry nodded quickly trying not to make it obvious that the casual pet name made his insides tingle, “Where do you want me to start?”

Louis looked around at what needed to be done and finally decided on a task “Just help me with the cords for now. I’ll break down the mic and you can roll the amp over when we’re finished.” he tossed some cords in a bag along with his mic.

Harry did as he was told, and packed away the cords in the same bag, when he was done rolling them up. Louis packed away the mic stand and slung that bag over Harry’s shoulder, “Sorry, hope you don’t mind.”

He caressed Harry’s back with his finger tips waiting for a response. Harry swallowed down a moan at the mans electric touch and responded, “Of course not. Lead the way.”

Louis smiled at that, nose scrunching, and eyes crinkling, before turning away to sling his guitar case, and bag of cords over his shoulder. He began his walk to the back door and Harry followed along pushing the amp behind him.

How did this man have him wrapped around his pretty little finger already?

Harry let his eyes travel down the slope of Louis’ back and bit his lip at the sight of Louis’ skin tight jeans stretching over the curve of his ass. How was he real?

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when Louis held the door open for him and waited expectantly for him to shuffle out.

“It’s that old, black, Jeep Commander, parked under the street light.”

Harry made his way over with Louis following behind. Louis unlocked the trunk and Harry lifted the amp up into it. They both carefully placed down the bags of cords and Louis laid his guitar case on top of it all.

“I’m going to go collect my payment,” Louis said shutting the trunk “D’you want to wait here and then we can properly introduce ourselves, and maybe get a bite to eat?”

Harry internally high-fived himself. He couldn’t believe his luck.

“Yeah, of course! I’ll be right here.”

Louis left him with a smile and sped off into the building.

Harry turned and checked his hair and outfit in the reflection of Louis’ jeep. He felt like a fucking narcissist, but he wanted to look good on his first date—was this a date?—with Louis. He twirled the ringlets by his ears around his fingers, giving them a gentle tug, to give them a more wavy look. He straightened out his button up and decided to unbutton his shirt to show off the tip of his butterfly tattoo on his sternum.

He didn’t want to seem like he was trying to pull tonight, but he was trying to pull tonight.

He jumped back at the feeling of someone behind him only to see it was Louis.

“Sorry, love. That was a bit creepy.”

Harry smiled letting his dimples shine, “No, no, it’s okay,” he reached out a hand towards Louis, “I’m Harry.”

Louis grabbed his hand in his and—fuck. Harry’s hand practically swallowed his whole.

“Nice to meet you, Harry,” Louis said, accompanied by blushing cheeks, visible even under the shitty street light. “Did you drive here?”

“No, I actually just moved here a few blocks down, so I walked.”

“Oh,” Harry realized they we’re still grabbing onto one another’s hands when Louis slowly pulled away letting their finger tips linger, “I could drive us to a little coffee shop that stays open pretty late. They serve really good sandwiches and carry the brand of tea I used to drink back Home.”

“Sounds good to me,” Harry agreed, “Just don’t kill us driving on the wrong side of the street.”

“Oi, he’s got jokes,” Louis laughed and unlocked the jeep allowing them both to slide inside. “Don’t think I won’t tell you to piss off."

This was going to be fun.

 

\--

 

“Black tea and a chicken salad sandwich for me,” Louis gave his order to the cashier, “and whatever this gorgeous lad fancies. It’s on me.”

Harry blushed a deep shade of pink. He thought he was gorgeous!

“Uh, I’ll have the same, but milk and sugar in my tea, please.”

“Typical.” Louis mumbled under his breath smirking at Harry.

Louis paid the total and left the spare change in the cashiers tip jar. They walked over to a secluded table and waited for their order. Harry had actually been here earlier in the day to find out if they were accepting applications or not. Turned out they were fully staffed, but if there were any openings they’d _let him know_.

“You know, I live in the apartment’s right down this street.”

“Oh yeah?” Louis looked up at him through his lashes, “You trying to give me a tour already, Harry?"

Harry softly smiled back at him, “I wasn’t planning on it, but if you wanted to take this to-go, I wouldn’t object to it.”

“You aren’t like a murderer or anything, yeah?” Louis asked pretending to be serious, “Everybody told me if I moved to America I’d be murdered.”

Harry laughed out loud at that and slapped a hand over his mouth containing the embarrassing sound, “That’s funny, but no, I’m not a murderer, you’re welcome to a back ground check if you’d like.”

“That won’t be necessary,” he leaned forward on his elbows on top of the table. Harry felt the tip of Louis’ shoe caress the back of his leg, “I trust you.” Louis smiled coyly and hooked his ankle around Harry’s.

“So you want to take this back to mine? It’s only like a two minute walk, you won’t have to worry about moving your jeep.” Harry asked making sure Louis was actually on-board with the idea.

“Yeah, sounds good...on one condition.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at Louis’ devious look, “What’s the one condition?”

“You carry me on your back on the way up there. I’m just too tired, and too overworked, this evening to possibly carry on any further.” he sighed out dramatically.

Harry was possibly in love with this man already. He was just so…different.

“I would have done that either way. Looks like we both win.” Harry challenged.

Louis’ grin took over his face once again, eyes crinkling, and nose scrunching- 

“Two teas and two chicken-salad sandwiches!”

Both of them snapped out of their adoring gazes and Louis got up to retrieve their order. Harry pushed their chairs in and grabbed his keys off the table and shoved them in his front pocket along side his iPhone.

They made their way out of the coffee shop and paused to let Louis get situated.

“How are we going to do this?” Louis wondered as he clutched both teas in both hands, and held on tightly to their bag of sandwiches between the cup and his right hand.

Harry contemplated his next move and just decided, fuck it.

He swept Louis up off his feet cradling him to his chest bridal style. He managed to do all of this without Louis spilling an ounce of tea on himself and the food was still kept in tact.

“You bloody idiot! I could’ve burned the both of us!” Louis yelled into the night.

“You know I have neighbors trying to sleep, right? We’re both okay and you’re still being carried now hush.”

Louis looked him dead in the eye and took a giant gulp from the tea cup labeled _milk/sgr_  on the side, and poorly disguised a wince at the sweetness.

“Hey, that was mine!” Harry whined

“You very well deserved it, Harold.”

Harry laughed at the new name, “Just Harry, actually.”

Louis thought on it for a second before deciding, “I like Harold better.”

Harry rolled his eyes fondly and carried Louis up the steps to his apartments doors. He carefully set Louis down and pulled out his phone. He opened the notes app and punched in the code that was given to him to access the doors at night.

“Sorry just moved in today. Haven’t really had time to memorize this.” he pulled the door open allowing Louis in and following quickly behind. They reached the elevator and Harry pushed the up option, and waited for the elevator to make its way down. He turned his gaze to Louis and noticed his eyes were down cast and he was chewing on his bottom lip.

“You alright?”

Louis looked up at him with his big blue eyes, a hint of nervousness in his features, “Yeah I’m good. S’just—I haven’t been up to anyone’s place in a while.”

Harry softened more than he thought was possible, “Hey,” he took a finger to Louis’ chin to face him, “I’m not expecting anything from you. You can finish your sandwich and be on your way,” he vowed dropping his arm back to his side, “I honestly just wanted a chance to talk to you earlier tonight. Hell, we can even stay right here if you prefer. Anything to make you more comfortable.”

The tension in Louis’ body seemed to dissipate at Harry’s reassuring words, “We can go up. Just wanted to be sure we were on the same page.” He beamed up at Harry and, God, he was so fucking beautiful.

The elevator pinged and it’s doors slid open.

“After you.” Harry let Louis step in first.

Harry followed behind and pushed the number 4.

God, he hoped this went well.

\--


	3. Chapter 3

“Want to change into something more comfortable?” Harry asked and Louis raised a suspicious eyebrow.

The two of them sat on opposite ends of Harry’s couch. They got to know each other a little better over their cafe sandwiches and tea’s.

Harry learned Louis was 24, just recently moved here within the last year, and was currently residing on a friends couch. He also learned that his jeep was his first purchase on American soil, and that he grew up in a town named Doncaster, without a Father, and all he had in life was his Mother and four sisters.

Harry let Louis know he was 22 and a single child, born and raised on the east coast, and that he’d been living here for three years, but he kept out the details of everything that’s happened throughout them. Another time might be more appropriate.

“I’m not trying anything, I swear,” Harry raised his hands in surrender, “I was just going to change and just thought I’d extend the offer.”

Louis reached to unbutton his skin tight jeans and let out a sigh when the pressure behind it was released. It took everything inside of Harry to not coo at his tiny belly.

“I suppose you’ve got the right idea,” he stood and stretched he limbs. Harry had to look away as his shirt continued to rise, “lead the way, then.”

Harry got up and led Louis in the direction of his room, “Don’t judge me,” he opened his door and let Louis in, “I haven’t had much time to put away my clothes, so they’re just kind of all over the place.”

Harry dug through a pile and pulled out a t-shirt and sweats for himself, and a t-shirt he knew was big, even on himself, and another pair of sweats for Louis. He stood and turned to hand Louis his clothes when—

“Oh shit—I’m so sorry!” Harry yelped. Louis was already stripped down to his _tiny_  black briefs and Harry tried, but failed, to pull his eyes away.

“What for?” Louis asked curiously. Harry couldn’t tell by looking at him if he was serious or not, but there was an underlying hint of a joke behind Louis’ words.

“I just—I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Louis stepped forward swaying his hips on purpose. Fuck.

“I don’t mind.” he batted his lashes at Harry and turned to dress himself.

Harry’s cock twitched at the sight of him bending over in just his black briefs and pulling Harry’s sweats low around his hips.

Harry had to turn away and start dressing himself as a distraction or he was going to get a hard on right there. He stripped down and felt eyes burning into his back. He smirked and cocked his head over his shoulder to catch Louis ogling his back side.

“Like what you see, eh?” Harry imitated Louis’ accusation from earlier in the night.

Louis scoffed and crossed his arms over his now t-shirt covered chest. “No, I was just trying to figure out how you’ve lived in the ‘sunshine state’ for years, and are still as pasty as you are.”

Harry hummed at that knowing he was full of shit, “Sure you were.”

Harry pulled his shirt onto his body and removed the band from his hair. He fluffed out his curls, and turned back to Louis, “I don’t have a tv set up or anything, but we can watch a movie on my laptop or something?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Louis smiled up at Harry, “Go ahead and set up. I’m just going to use the loo.”

Fuck, why was him calling the restroom ’the loo' so endearing?

“Okay.” Harry agreed a little breathlessly.

He grabbed his laptop from a bag in his room and walked out to the living room to set it down on his new coffee table. He logged into his computer and opened Netflix in his browser. He heard Louis finish up in the bathroom and he scooted into the corner of the couch to give him enough space to sit wherever he wanted.

When Louis entered the room, he took one look at Harry and all the space on the couch, and decided to plop his ass down right on Harry’s lap.

“Make yourself comfortable why don’t you.” Harry huffed out in surprise.

“Cheers, I’m planning on it,” Louis wiggled his bum around to get comfortable.

Harry had to bite down on his cheek to distract himself from the feeling of Louis on top of him. Louis deemed himself comfortable and grabbed Harry’s arms to wrap them around his slim waist.

“What are we watching, then?” he looked up at Harry with doe eyes and Harry tightened his hold on his midsection.

“I didn’t get to choose anything. Why don’t you do the honors?"

Louis leaned forward and bent over in Harry’s lap. Harry kept his hands on Louis’ hips to keep him from tipping over. Louis selected the first movie on the recently added list and sat back into his original position.

Harry moved his arms back around Louis waist and relished in the feeling of Louis lacing their fingers together.

How is it that they just met hours ago, yet he’s felt like they’ve been a deeply committed couple for years? In fact, he’s been so wrapped up in Louis, that he’s completely forgotten the shitty day he had.

He nosed down the side of Louis’ face and inhaled the fresh scent of his hair products and a soft natural scent beneath that. It was by complete accident, but Harry softly pressed his lips to Louis temple, and gave his hands a tight squeeze. It just felt so natural and instinct seemed to take over.

Louis didn’t seem to mind as he remained silent and snuggled in closer. Harry sighed blissfully and began to focus on the movie.

It proved to be a hard task as Louis apparently had a problem staying still. Louis would slightly fidget and that would prompt a light drag against the tip of Harry’s cock. He had to bite back more than a few moans and had to squeeze his eyes shut to will himself not to get hard with Louis in his lap.

“Y’alright, love?” Louis turned slightly and looked back at Harry. Apparently he wasn’t doing a good enough job concealing his not so small issue.

“Yeah—just. Can you sit still? The last thing I want is to make things weird, I’m sorry.” Harry pleaded as politely as possible and adjusted his hold on Louis.

“Mmm, but I don’t wanna sit still,” he wrapped his arms behind his head and around Harry’s neck lifting himself up whilst dragging his plump ass across Harry’s cock, “Like how you feel.” he whispered into Harry’s ear and chills ran down his entire body.

Louis dropped his hands and brought one through Harry’s curls lightly scratching at his scalp. Harry let his head relax on to the back of the couch at the feeling, and adjusted Louis in his lap so that he was sitting with his side to Harry’s chest. Harry felt Louis begin to tug his curls slowly to the side to be able to expose the skin of his neck. He let out a small gasp as he felt Louis suck a feather light line of open mouth kisses down his neck.

“Put your hands on me,” Louis breathed out between wet smacks.

Harry turned his head to look Louis in the eyes forcing the kisses on his neck to come to a halt, “Are you sure?” Harry searched his eyes for any hint of doubt or uncertainty, but found neither.

Louis lifted himself up and planted one leg on each side of Harry fully straddling him. He grabbed Harry’s hands in his own and placed them on each of his bum cheeks, pressing down on Harry’s hands with his fingers to give him permission to squeeze.

“Positive.”

That was all the permission Harry needed to bring Louis down by his neck with his left hand, and capture his lips between his. Louis exhaled a breathy moan and Harry was going to do whatever it took to hear that sound come from him over and over again.

Harry moved his lips against Louis’ and slowly poked out the tip of his tongue, tracing the outline of Louis’ bottom lip, silently requesting that he open up. Louis complied and opened his mouth slowly while Harry shoved his tongue in. As he was exploring Louis’ mouth, he tasted nothing but an icy hint of spearmint.

“Did you steal some of my mouth wash?” Harry asked through panted breaths.

Louis placed his mouth back on Harry’s allowing him to get another good taste of the minty flavor, “No,” Louis lied through his teeth and failed to hold back a giggle.

Harry laughed with him and flipped Louis over on his back. He pressed a few deep kisses to his mouth and rubbed his length down against Louis’ making them both moan and break off the kiss.

“Tell me what you want, baby.” Harry softly commanded as he left a trail of kisses from Louis mouth down to where his shirt was slightly sliding off his shoulder.

“Want your mouth, please.” Louis punctuated with a light tug to Harry’s hair bringing him back up to crash their mouth’s together.

Harry deepened the kiss and continued rubbing his hard cock against Louis'. He pulled off Louis' mouth and latched on to his ear lobe, making Louis mewl in the process.

“Where do you want my mouth, hm?”

He pulled back to watch Louis as he directed Harry where to go. Only he didn’t get a response out of Louis, but a pleading stare and flushed cheeks.

Maybe he was just shy.

“Want me to suck you off, baby?”

Louis shook his head and murmured out a barely there _no_.

“No?” Harry quirked a brow in confusion, “What do you want, then?”

Louis swallowed and fidgeted with the collar of his shirt, “I—I know it’s a lot to ask from someone I just met, but could you—“ he swallowed again and shifted his eyes towards Harry’s, “Could you maybe, eat me out?” he bit his lip and brought his hands to rub at Harry’s chest.

Fuck.

Harry would be a fucking idiot to pass up this opportunity.

“Shit—Of course I will, Jesus,” Harry panted out, “you want to get cleaned up first or something?”

Louis’ cheeks turned an even deeper red, “Already took care of that on my trip to the loo.”

Harry groaned at the thought of Louis preparing himself for him in the bathroom only a few feet away. This man was going to be the death of him.

Harry brought both of his hands to Louis face and pressed a lingering, possibly too intimate, kiss on his slightly swollen lips. He peeled himself off the couch and ripped off the shirt on his body.

“Strip,” he instructed, “and lay your t-shirt underneath you. New couches and all.”

Louis scoffed but obliged anyway.

Harry pushed his own sweats down and stepped out of them, leaving himself only in his boxers. He watch as Louis stood and began removing his clothing at a maddeningly slow pace. He daintily peeled Harry’s t-shirt off his body and folded it gently on the couch. He peeked over his shoulder to make sure Harry still had his eyes on him, and hooked his thumbs into his briefs slowly pulling them down with his sweats at the same time. Harry palmed himself as Louis revealed more and more of his skin until he was eventually standing unabashedly naked in the middle of Harry’s living room.

“So gorgeous Louis, shit.” Harry gave himself a tight squeeze and dropped his hand when Louis turned to walk towards him.

“Not so bad yourself.” He reached into Harry’s boxers, tugged them completely off, and pressed their lips together again.

Harry was lost in the feeling of Louis’ mouth on his. He wouldn’t go another day with out this if he didn’t have to. He felt Louis finger tips begin to scape across the light patch of hair leading to his fully hard cock. Harry broke the kiss and placed one last one to Louis’ forehead. “On your tummy, please.”

Louis turned around and laid himself on the couch. He slightly spread his legs and arched his back sinfully. Harry had to squeeze his eyes shut just so he wouldn’t come from the sight alone.

He knelt down between Louis’ legs and picked him up by his hips so he could fit between the cramped space. Harry settled on his knees and ran his hands up the back of Louis thick thighs. Harry’s insides began to tingle when he saw Louis’ body tense and relax under his touch.

Harry cupped a cheek in each hand and lightly jiggled them back and forth. Louis wiggled his hips closer to Harry’s face and Harry gave his ass a soft smack immediately peppering kisses over the same area.

“Be still for me.”

Louis whined but cut off his wiggling hips and awaited whatever Harry decided to give him next.

Harry spread the cheeks in his hand to get an eyeful of louis pink, _hairless_  hole. Harry brought his thumb to graze over the skin and moaned at the silky smooth feeling.

“Why is that so hot—fuck."

If Louis had a response on the tip of his tongue, it died when Harry licked a fat stripe from his balls, to the tip of his crack. Harry spread Louis’ cheeks further apart and licked around his entrance until he was slick with spit.

“Mmm, so good.” Louis whined out.

Harry took that as initiative to bury his face further into Louis ass and to wrap his arms around his waist to pull him closer. Every pant and whimper spilling from Louis’ mouth spurred Harry on to lick him out deeper and filthier.

He traced his tongue along the ring of muscle teasingly and held on to Louis’ hips tighter when he began to squirm. He dipped his tongue further into his cheeks and moaned at the taste of Louis on his tongue.

“Taste so good.” he mumbled over his hole.

Louis’ hips thrashed about and Harry dove back in like a starved animal. He poked and prodded at Louis’ hole until the tip of his tongue made it’s way through. He was salivating at how ridiculously sensitive Louis was and used that to his advantage to prod in deeper.

“Fuck—Harry! Need more, please.”

Harry pulled back and wiped his spit from his chin. He used that same hand and began to stroke Louis’ length. Louis fell nearly boneless at the touch and whimpered into the cushion.

Harry leaned forward to whisper in Louis’ ear, “Sit on my face.”

And—fuck. That was bold. Not even Harry expected that one.

Louis nodded his head frantically and bucked Harry off of him. Harry laid flat on his back and watched as Louis backed up on top of him and hovered his lower half above his face. Harry brought his hands to Louis’ cheeks and lifted his head to trace his tongue against Louis’ balls. Louis clenched at the unexpected feeling but didn’t object to Harry sucking one into his mouth.

“Sh-shit, Harry,” Louis sounded completely wrecked, “don’t wanna—ah—come like this,” he reached back and thread a hand through Harry’s sweaty curls and pulled him back, “Get your tongue back in my arse.” and with that he sat fully on Harry’s face.

Harry started to earnestly lick him out, and he jerked his hips when he felt Louis tweak at his nipples. He moaned into Louis’ cheeks and Louis must’ve enjoyed the vibrations from his deep voice, since he began to ride back against Harry’s face.

He suddenly felt a wet warm heat enclose around the tip of his cock. Harry had to pull back from Louis' ass to catch his breath at the sensation. He felt Louis get a hand on him as he moved his mouth further down.

Harry squeezed at Louis’ cheeks resisting the urge to fuck up into his mouth, “Not gonna last much longer, baby.” he panted out

Louis pulled off with a slurp and Harry was going to replay that sound over and over again in his head, “I’m close too, let me ride your tongue.”

Harry immediately drove his tongue back into Louis hole and let him use his face for pleasure. He looked up to see Louis licking both of his palms above him. Harry slid his hand’s up to pinch and twist at Louis’ nipples, and began to buck into Louis' fist when he felt him start to get them both off.

Harry gave Louis’ sensitive nipples an especially hard pinch and felt Louis clench around his tongue. Both of Louis’ hands sped up as he brought them both to their orgasms.

“Oh—Harry!” Louis yelled as he rode out his high.

Harry came all over his torso and felt Louis’ come splatter up next to his.

Fuck that was amazing.

Louis crawled off of him and swiped up a fingers worth of Harry’s come, and sucked it into his mouth. Harry’s eyes glazed over at the sight, and he felt like he was actually going to pass out.

Harry was snapped out of his post-coital daze when he felt Louis cleaning him up with his t-shirt. Louis looked completely sated and fucked out with his hair now in more of a fringe, and a sleepy smile on his lips.

Harry grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him on top of him to give him a deep tongue kiss. Louis didn’t reject, even though the same tongue in his mouth, was up his perfect ass only moments ago.

“Mmm,” harry groaned pulling Louis’ off by the hair at the back of his neck, “So filthy, baby.”

Louis laughed lightly and placed one last peck to Harry’s lips, “Should probably go clean up. Both of us.”

Harry yanked Louis down on top of him again, hugging him tightly to his chest, “In a minute, just give me a _proper cuddle_.” he imitated in his best British accent.

Louis sighed and curled up against him.

Harry hadn’t felt this good in so long.

—

Louis took the shower first, and Harry brushed his teeth in the kitchen sink. He walked back over to the couch and sprawled out against it. In less than twenty-four hours Harry managed to cry on this couch, and have someone ride his face.

What an unexpected turn of events.

Harry noticed the movie had just ended on his laptop, and he didn’t even realize it was still playing that whole time. He shut his laptop wanting to be alone with his thoughts for a moment while Louis was in the shower.

Harry was fucking dropped this morning.

He still hasn’t given himself time to fully let it sink in let alone come up with a plan. Was he going to continue in the music industry? Would he ever play more open mic nights? Would he end up doing that for the next five years, and eventually lose inspiration, and give up on his dream, again? He knew he was getting slightly ahead of himself, but. Fuck.

He scrubbed his hands over his eyes, trying his best to not have another break down while he had company in the other room. A stranger practically.

Just as reality was beginning to close in around him he heard the water shut off.

He sat up straight on the couch and huffed out a shaky breath. He pulled himself together and decided he should probably put his boxers back on before Louis came back out. He stood and dragged the clothing up his legs and quickly took the band from his wrist and tied his hair in a messy bun.

The door to the bathroom swung open and Louis walked out dripping wet, hands covering his bits.

“Need a towel, please.”

Oh shit. Harry forgot he hadn’t unpacked and put those away yet.

Harry hopped off the couch, and scurried to find a towel to wrap around Louis’ shivering body. He grabbed the fluffiest one he could find, and walked back over to Louis, and draped it over him.

“Sorry about that.” Harry laughed fondly.

“S’all good, mate.”

Mate?

Harry’s smile visibly dropped and an ugly feeling in his stomach began to rise. Wasn’t mate the equivalent to ‘bro’? Did Louis just call Harry bro?

Harry cleared his throat and excused himself back to the living room. He slowly sat back down replaying Louis’ words in his head. He didn’t have much time to dwell on them as Louis entered the living room with the towel slung low on his hips.

He searched around for his briefs seemingly in a hurry and dropped his towel completely.

“Didn’t realize how late it was.” he pulled the tight fabric up over his ass and began toweling off his hair.

Harry tipped his head back to check the time on the stove. 2:47 am.

“I should probably get going.” Louis began to turn towards Harry’s room to retrieve his original outfit.

“No—” Harry stood quickly and grabbed on to Louis’ wrist.

Louis looked at him like he had lost his mind. He immediately dropped Louis’ wrist like it burned him. He pushed his fingers through his hair only to be stopped by a bun.

Dammit.

“I mean—It’s already late and bars are closing, and you shouldn’t be on the road with drunks,” Harry rambled out, “Just—you can take my bed, and I’ll take the couch, and if you want, in the morning, I can make you breakfast—just—please stay.”

Harry knew he wasn’t being fair. Louis had every right to leave and possibly never see Harry again, but Louis was the only beacon of light within his last twenty-four shitty hours, and Harry just wanted to cling on for a little bit longer.

Louis raised a hand to Harry’s face and lifted on to his toes to place a kiss to Harry’s cheek.

“You don’t have to take the couch, love.” he whispered in Harry’s ear and dropped his hand from Harry’s face to thread their fingers together.

As Harry was tugged into his room, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At least he wouldn’t lose this as easily as everything else in his life.

—

Harry woke up to sunlight beaming in his eyes from his curtain-less window. He felt around in his bed.

Louis was gone.

—


	4. Chapter 4

Harry spent the next seven days sulking.

He would wake up well past noon, unpack his things, and try to make this apartment feel more like a home, and less like a bribe. After he felt like he’d done enough unpacking, he'd mope down the too sunny streets, with the too happy people, and continue his seemingly hopeless job hunt.

He avoided music at all costs. He completely hid his guitar away in it’s case and shoved it under his bed. Some nights he would drink himself to sleep, others he would lay back on his couch and stare blankly at his ceiling. He would consider all of his life choices that led up to this point and where he went wrong. He was so numb and saw no light at the end of the tunnel.

He didn’t let his mind drift towards Louis. Harry had plenty of meaningless hook-ups over the past year. He wasn’t new to this. So what if he thought Louis might’ve been different, and at one point during that night he swore it felt like they’d been lovers for years. He’d been wrong before. And he’ll be wrong again.

He knew only time could help him with this one.

\--

Eight days later, Harry’s sleep was interrupted by the shrill ringing from his phone. He groaned and rubbed at his eye with one hand, and answered the phone with the other.

“‘Lo?” Harry rasped out, not even checking who was on the line.

“Hello! Is this Harry Styles?”

No shit. “Yes, this is he.”

“Oh good. I’m Liam calling from the Bar & Lounge on West 7th. Just wanted to let you know, if you still wanted the bar tending gig the job is yours.”

Harry shot up in bed at that, “Uh—“ he cleared the sleep from his throat, “Yes, I humbly accept. When can I start?”

“Well, we’ll just get you in tonight to sign all the necessary paperwork, and kinda show you around the place,” he paused letting someone know he’d be right with them under his breath, “Sorry about that, but like I was saying, we won’t actually start you off on a Friday night. We’ll train you during the week until we agree that you’re ready for night shift.”

Harry felt a little spark of excitement spread throughout him, “Shouldn’t take too long. Spent my first two years in LA serving the night and day crowd.”

“Sounds good, Harry. Be here a little after 7 so we can sort everything out.”

“I will. Thank you so much for this opportunity!” Harry added hoping a little brown nosing wouldn’t do much harm.

He ended the call and stared at the crisp white sheets in his bed. He finally had something to look forward to. Something to take his mind off of everything that seemed to be going wrong.

He ran a hand through his unwashed curls and immediately decided, he should shower.

\--

Harry showed up a few minutes after seven like he was instructed to. The walk wasn’t too far, but he would have to invest in better shoes if he planned on working night shifts.

Harry stepped in and admired the warm lighting above him. To his left was a long bar with a counter top a few patrons were occupying, and to his right was more seating, and a giant painting of cherubs covering majority of the wall. The interior was modern yet inviting, and it seemed like a pretty relaxed atmosphere.

Harry decided he was going to enjoy his time here as best as he could.

He poked his head around the bar, searching for anyone who looked like a Liam. Eventually, he felt weird just scanning the place and asked one of the ladies working the bar for assistance.

“Oh! You must be Harry I’ll let him know you’re here.” Harry nodded and waited patiently for his new bosses arrival.

Harry’s mind started to drift back towards a time in his life where he would thrive in bars like this. Always the center of attention with people clinging to him from each side. He realized not a single person that used to vie for his attention has made an attempt to contact him. Not even a simple text.

“Harry?" he turned to face the voice and was met by the sight of a lean man a few years older than him.

“Yes, that’s me.” he reached his arm out to shake the mans hand.

“I’m Liam, nice to meet you,” he said with a genuine smile, “follow me to the back and we can get things started.”

Liam led them to the far back corner of the building. Awaiting them was a table with a few thin stacks of employment documents and a pen, “So, I just need you to fill out all of your information and sign where it’s needed, and when you’re finished meet me back up front so I can give you a tour.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Harry wrote in all of his information where it was asked of him and flipped through the stacks singing and initialing as legibly as possible. He was actually starting to get excited. It wouldn’t be the money he was making as a signed artist, but it would least keep his head above water while he figured out what he wanted to do.

Harry gathered the stacks and walked toward the front where Liam said he would be. He stalled flipping through the pages once more as Liam gave instructions to his other employees.

“Oh—hey that was fast,” Liam took the paperwork from Harry and folded them under his arm, “Let me show you around before we get too busy. Open mic nights always draw in a bigger crowd.”

Liam took off towards the back of the building and Harry followed quickly behind. He was shown the small kitchen and tiny inventory room. He was brought back out to the bar to be shown how to use the register and where to find everything essential for a cocktail.

“Let me show you the outside area,” Liam walked him through the building and pushed through the door holding it open for Harry, “This is where the live music is played. As you can see he’s setting up,”

Harry’s gaze shifted up at the same time the person turned around.

Oh fuck.

Louis visibly tensed at the sight of Harry, and turned his face to cover his shameful blush. Harry was sure Liam was explaining something important to him but he couldn’t take his eyes off Louis and his ears were ringing at deafening volumes.

Harry wanted to reach out and touch him. Wanted to run his fingers through his feathery hair and watch as Louis would softly smile and lean into the touch. He wanted to hear Louis’ voice again. It had been two weeks since Louis left him without a trace, and suddenly every ounce of progress made trying to forget him, was gone.

Harry was completely fucked. He just hoped it wasn’t written all over his face.

“If you don’t have anymore questions you’re free to go,” Liam said snapping Harry out of his intense gaze, “Come back on Monday around 3 and we’ll get you trained and ready to serve.” with that Liam pat him on the shoulder twice and made his way inside.

And then there was two.

Harry swallowed down the ball of emotions rising in his throat and bit the bullet, “Hey.”

“Hello, Harry.” Louis spoke softly still subtlety avoiding eye contact.

“You—um—you playing here tonight?” obviously.

Louis stood to face Harry and placed his hands on his hips. He looked just as beautiful as he did the first time Harry saw him. The only difference now is he was dressed in a white shirt that clung to his curves, and Harry was twice as breathless.

“Yeah, s’why I’m setting up all this shit.” he joked, probably trying to ease the tension.

Harry wasn’t going to let him off that easy.

He stepped a little closer and crossed his arms over his chest, “Good to know you made it out of my apartment completely unscathed.” Harry raised an eyebrow and Louis darted his eyes away.

Louis exhaled a deep sigh and pinched at the skin between his brows.

“Can we not do this?” he quietly begged, “ There’s no need to hash it out. It was just a one time thing, alright?”

The words stung, and although Harry swore he wouldn’t let the situation get to him, it did.

“Why should it have to be a one time thing, though?” Harry inquired, “We both enjoyed each others company, we both got along just fine, _great_  even, and this might just be me projecting, but you sitting on my face, and kissing me goodnight afterwards, might have been a little too intimate for a hookup.”

Louis’ cheeks visibly heat up and he hid his face away from Harry behind the palm of his hand, “Please don’t bring that up here,” he looked back and sighed before continuing, “It just wouldn’t be fair to either of us to get involved with each other.”

“Why do you get to decide what’s fair for us?” Harry uncrossed his arms and took Louis’ wrist in his hand.

Louis gently pulled back and shook his head, “I just moved here, Harry. I have a career to focus on,” he blinked up towards him. Eyes completely sincere, “You are so, so lovely, and maybe under different circumstances we could’ve had something, but I owe this to my family and myself, and being a musician requires all of my time and dedication. I wouldn’t be able to spend time with you between playing at different bars every night and spending my days in the studio.”

Harry understood what Louis was saying. He was the same way when he was playing in shitty bars, and recording with shitty equipment. Harry dedicated every minute of his life to his dream.

Louis had no idea about that side of Harry though.

“I know it probably sounds silly and highly unrealistic, but I want to make it, and I want to do well in the music industry. I want to be able to give back with my art, and like I said, it just wouldn’t be fair. You don’t deserve to be put on hold just as much as my ambitions don’t deserve to be put on hold.”

He was right, and although it pained Harry to let it go, he knew he had to.

He stepped right up in Louis’ space, slid a hand through his hair, and gently caressed at his scalp, “I understand completely,” he tilted his head down and place a soft, lingering kiss to Louis’ forehead, “And nothing you said was silly or unrealistic.” he looked deep into Louis’ eyes hoping to convey all the sincerity he felt behind those words. He placed one last short kiss to his forehead and stepped back giving him a small smile, “You’re going to be so great."

Louis looked at him like he was thankful, eyes crinkled, and nose scrunched. He grabbed Harry’s hand in between both of his and laced their fingers together, “You’re more than welcome to stay for my set.” he bit his lip and gave Harry’s hand a small squeeze.

It was tempting, so very tempting, but Harry had to respect his wishes, and if he stayed, he didn’t know if he’d be able to.

“Think i’ll just go home. I finally set up my tv, so…” Harry withdrew his hand and shrugged unable to finish the rest of his excuse.

“Yeah—of course. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” he began backing up towards his equipment.

“I’ll see you around, Louis.”

Louis gave him one last shy smile and a little wave, and with that Harry was gone.

\--

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

Over the next month Harry’s life started to slowly come together.

A week after he was hired at the bar, he got back into the swing of things, and began working night shifts. He started to save his tips again, and decided if he was going to get back into music, he’d shovel out the extra cash to record in a studio. He managed to pull his guitar from under his bed, but only played for a few minutes at a time, compared to the hours he used to do.

He didn’t see Louis again after they left on good terms. He figured he might see him again during one of his shifts, but Louis hadn’t been back. It hurt less day by day but eventually he got over it.

He had offers, from different people he served, to go back to their place, or to go get off in the bathroom, but Harry always declined. If they would’ve asked him a year ago, he probably would’ve taken every last offer, but now, he was just trying to get his shit together, and he was never really up for a sloppy blow job in the vicinity of a toilet.

If he was ever feeling particularly in the mood, he had the memory of Louis’ ass riding his face to get him off. Who could blame him? It was fucking hot.

Okay...

So maybe he wasn’t _completely_  over it, and he was secretly denying those people just incase Louis walked into his bar, and decided to change his mind about them. It would likely never happen, but nobody outside of Harry had to know.

—

  
Another month flew by and Harry finally had enough.

Making music was what he was meant to do. He was dropped over three months ago, and although he never throughly mourned the death of his Sony career, he was done letting that get in the way of his passion. He put in his two-weeks at the bar and appreciated Liam’s _you always have a place to work here if you need to_.

He spent majority of his time getting familiar with his guitar again. He would create rhythms and melodies, and would sometimes put words to them. He’d wake up in the middle of the night having dreamt up a line, and would immediately jot it down in the journal he kept at his bedside table.

He would visit a small studio, a couple blocks away, a few times a week. It wasn’t as glamorous and polished as the one in his old condominium, but he became acquainted with some of the producers that volunteered there every now and then, and found he enjoyed his time there more than anywhere else.

This time around there wasn’t any pressure to put out a single, and he wasn’t drinking to the point of his voice being completely ruined. He would come in and basically jam for an hour. Sometimes he’d pay for an extra hour just to sit around and pluck at his strings, and if more lines came to mind he’d scribble them down in his notebook.

It was becoming about the music again and Harry was going to do every thing he could to keep it that way.

—

One day, as Harry was leaving the studio, he noticed a few flyers scattered around the floor. He bent down and picked each of them up, and read one of them over.

 _Back up vocalist/guitarist wanted_  
_Seeking someone with experience and preferably a baritone voice type_  
_Must audition in person_

Harry fit this description perfectly and he was always looking to network with fellow musicians. He walked to the front desk hoping they could provide him with more information.

“Excuse me,” Harry squeaked out hoping he wasn’t interrupting the frazzled young man behind the computer.

The man looked up from his incessant tapping on his keyboard, “How can I help you?”

Harry handed over the flyers and let him take a look, “Could you possibly tell me more about this?”

“Oh—yeah—if I’m not mistaken this guy has a few ideas but is looking for a specific sound. He said he was willing to pay per session if he found what he was looking for. He’s holding auditions…” he leaned over and checked his calendar, “Tomorrow actually. Tomorrow at noon.”

“Okay that’s perfect,” Harry was definitely going to check this out, “Do I have to check in or...”

“You can just go in—He’ll be in studio 3 tomorrow.”

“Alright, thank you so much.”

Harry exited the building and walked with an extra pep in his step. This could potentially be a great opportunity.

—

Harry gently knocked on the door of studio 3 before pushing it open. The room had a long couch, rugs strewn across the floor, and expensive equipment lined up against the walls. Harry poked his head behind the recording booth door and found that he was completely alone. He wasn’t early, and he expected there to be a few other people, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

He decided to wait on the couch for a minute incase anyone happened to show up. He set his guitar case at his feet and plopped down. He idly scrolled through his phone and ended up looking through his notes to change up some lyrics he had.

Before long Harry heard someone behind the door. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and stood to straighten himself out. When the door clicked open and revealed the person on the other side, Harry’s heart stuttered in his chest.

Louis.

“Harry?” Louis questioned as he shut the door behind him. Harry absolutely beamed at the sound of his name rolling off Louis’ tongue. Even if it was in a confused matter.

“Hi—“

“What are you doing here?” Louis asked with a slightly clipped tone.

Harry cleared his throat and wiped the grin off his face, “I, uh, I’m here for some audition. What are you doing here?”

“Well—I’m hosting auditions,” he darted his eyes down towards Harry’s feet, “You play?”

Harry followed Louis line of vision landing on his case, “Yeah, I do. Been playing all my life, actually.”

“You’re a musician?” Louis squeaked out.

“Uh, yeah, I mean, I sing as well. S’kinda why I moved out here.”

Louis’ brows scrunched together taking in the brand new information. “So you’ve been doing this since before we met?”

“Well, technically, I guess.”

“You guess? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“When did you expect me to?” Harry let out a little huff, "If my memory serves me right you cut off any future contact between us.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “I’m sure you’ve got it all wrong, but it doesn’t matter now,” he pushed past Harry and sat at the chair behind the mixing desk, “If you don’t mind stepping into the booth, please.”

Harry nearly got whiplash from the change in atmosphere, but he shook himself out of it, and went to step into the booth. He looked over at Louis and noticed he was motioning for him to put the headphones on.

Harry slipped them on over his ears and Louis’ voice came in, “I’m going to play you a clip of the verse that’s written out in front of you, take your time going over it, and when you feel like you know it well enough, I want you to sing over the track, yeah?”

Harry skimmed over the words in front of him and looked back over at Louis shooting him a thumbs up.

“Speak into the mic when you feel ready.”

Harry slipped his eyes closed and waited for the clip to start.

 _I would follow you my love_  
_as you would follow me_  
_this distance put between us_  
_can’t shake this memory_

Harry’s lips curled up at the ends when Louis’ sweet voice settled over him. The song had a nostalgic feel with a thumping baseline, and crisp guitar riffs. As every element of the song came together, Harry’s brain was busy thinking up different ways he could add to it.

 _half an hour to sunrise_  
_you’re holding me so close_  
_one minute to fall in love_  
_with lips as red as rose_

Harry looked over to Louis and softly spoke into the mic as the verse fizzled out, and started to play again, “You wrote this?”

Louis looked up at him from under his lashes and gave him a shy nod. Harry’s smile deepened when he pictured Louis in concentration, poking out his tongue, and pinching his eyebrows together. He wanted to see Louis in his element so badly.

Harry let the verse repeat a few more times as he hummed they lyrics under his breath.

“I think I’m ready.” he spoke into the mic.

Louis shuffled around the board before speaking into the intercom, “I’ll record this one and play it back to you just incase you want to make any corrections, yeah?”

Harry nodded and braced himself for the music.

“Impress me.”

With that, the melody rang in his ears, and Harry began to Harmonize with Louis’ words. For it being such a short verse and never working with Louis before, Harry had to say they sounded really good together. Like _really_  good. Louis' light tenor blended seamlessly with Harry’s low baritone.

Harry felt chills rise up on the back of his neck but chose not to comment on it. The song clip ended and he met Louis’ eyes briefly. Louis looked away when his cheeks began to twitch into a smile.

“Gonna play it back for you now.”

Louis clicked play and the song flooded through Harry’s headphones. The sound of each others voices united into one, and the rhythm of the music carried their voices effortlessly. Harry’s insides tingled and a wave of shivers rolled down his spine.

Before the clip cut off, Harry turned to raise an eyebrow at Louis, and failed miserably at smothering his smile. Louis stared back at him in shock.

The clip cut off and Louis spoke into the intercom, “How do you feel—want to give it another go? Or do you feel good with that?”

Harry didn’t even need to think about it, “I feel great, unless you want me to, _give it another go_.” he imitated.

Louis scrunched up his face into faux laughter, “So funny,” he stood and waved Harry out of the booth.

Harry placed his headphones on the stand and made his way out of the cramped space, “Was it good enough? You don’t want me to do it again?”

Louis entered a few things into the laptop, sitting on the mixing table, before he answered, “Should be good enough for audition purposes,” he shut the laptop and turned to face Harry fully, “If you wouldn’t mind leaving some contact information so I can get back to you in a few days.”

“You’ll need to hand over your phone for me to do that.” Harry grinned as Louis let out a huff but handed his phone over anyway, “This wasn’t just one big scheme to get my number was it?”

Louis shot him a death glare.

“Harry.” his tone had a hint of warning in it.

“Relax, Louis. Just a bit of banter, yeah?” Harry knew he was pushing it, but seeing Louis get worked up was kind of amusing and incredibly endearing.

Louis snatched his phone out of Harry’s hand and turned back to the table.

A few moments of silence went by before Harry broke it, “So, do you want me to play for you?”

“Hm?” Louis turned around and followed to where Harry was directing his attention at his guitar case, “Oh right—um—you can just play right there on the couch let me go grab mine.” Louis exited the room swiftly and shut the door behind him.

Harry sat on one end of the couch and began unbuckling his case. He pulled out his guitar and pulled a pic from his pocket. He began strumming softly just to make sure everything was in tune.

Louis pushed through the door and sat on the other end of the couch, “Sorry, it was in my jeep,” he adjusted himself into a comfortable position and began strumming lightly with his finger tips, “I’m just going to play a basic chord and I want you to join in. Just want to see if we can play well together.”

Harry raised a teasing eyebrow at that. Louis sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes, “Anyway, 1, 2, 3, 4…”

He started to softly strum away at his strings and locked his eyes on Harry’s. Harry sat up and took the rhythm in. He began to match Louis’ melody and eased into fingerpicking his own strings. He wasn’t always the best at it, but he considered himself above average after nearly fifteen years of practice.

He looked up from his hands and caught a glimpse of Louis soft features being directed at him. Louis gave him a private smile and little nod before turning to watch his own hands play.

Once again they sounded good together. Awesome even. This was their first time jamming and it was going rather well, and of course, they would only improve if Louis decided Harry was what he was looking for.

Their musical chemistry carried on for a couple more minutes before Louis gently brought them to a stop, “You’re pretty good Mister….”

It took Harry a second to catch on, but he realized Louis didn’t even know his last name, “Styles. Harry Styles.” he reached out and shook Louis’ hand.

“Tomlinson.”

Harry retracted his hand and played the sound of Louis’ name in his head over and over, “Louis Tomlinson…rolls right off the tongue,” he paused for dramatic effect, “Literally.”

“Oh for God’s sake, Harry.” He stood up off the couch and went back to the mixing table. “You’re free to go. I’ll get back to you within the next few days.”

Oh shit.

“Hey,” Harry spoke gently. He dropped his guitar into its case and cautiously moved to stand behind Louis, “I’ll stop the jokes if it makes you uncomfortable,” he reached out his arm to place it around Louis’ shoulder. "I’m sorry it’s just my stupid sense of humor, I don’t want you to be upset.”

Louis subtly slid his arm off him and turned to look at Harry, “Like I said I’ll get back to you within the next few days. You can leave.” with that he sat down and got back to whatever work was on his laptop.

Harry awkwardly backed up and stumbled a bit over his clunky boots. He turned to check if Louis caught that, and Louis had his head slightly peeking over his shoulder, and the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. He shook his head and turned back to his screen. Harry chuckled deep in his chest to ease his embarrassment and went to pack his guitar away.

He began to walk towards the exit of the room and turned to look at Louis. He was typing away and paying no mind to Harry. He felt like he should say something, anything, but reluctantly decided to just keep his mouth shut and leave.

Whether Harry got the gig, or not, he just hoped he’d get a call from Louis. Just one.

\--

Seventy-two hours passed since Harry last saw Louis and he was beginning to feel hopeless again.

He was sat on top of his kitchen counter and was constantly checking his phone for any missed notifications. If Louis wanted to work with him he would’ve let him know by now, right? Maybe he had a ton of auditions to file through and just didn’t have the time. Or maybe Harry wasn’t what he was looking for, and maybe his complete lack of professionalism helped make up Louis’ mind.

Harry banged his head lightly against the cabinets behind him at the thought of him fucking something up again. He ran his fingers through his curls and tugged just enough for it to be painful. When would he fucking learn?

He checked his phone one last time just to find nothing had changed. He hopped down off the counter and went to rummage through his fridge. Nothing appeared to be appetizing so he closed the refrigerator door and leaned his head against the cool surface.

Before he could wallow in his self-pity any longer his phone pinged once. He jetted over to the counter he left it on and saw that their was one single text from an unknown number.

_Are you available to talk? -Louis_

Harry got butterflies, fucking butterflies, in his tummy. The message was no love declaration, but it was at least Louis communicating with him.

_Yeah. I’m just at home deciding what’s for lunch_

He sent off his reply and not even a few seconds later his phone began to ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Harry.” Louis’ voice rasped through the phone and Harry smiled and bit down on his tongue to avoid squealing.

“Hi, Louis. How is everything?” he was going to keep this as professional as possible in order to make up for his antics at his audition.

“Everything is well, thank you,” he paused and shuffling came from the other side of the line, “So, I’ve come to a decision on who I want to work with for a few of my tracks,” Harry felt nerves deep in the pit of his stomach and he chewed halfway through the skin of his thumb. “Although I may regret this decision in the near future I had to do what I felt was right for me and my music in the long run.”

Oh fuck. That didn’t sound too positive, “I—um—I completely understand and I’m glad you found the sound you were looking for, even if I wasn’t—“

“What are you on about?”

“I just—“

“Can I finish what I was saying, yeah?”

Harry went completely silent and held his breath at the light scalding Louis gave him.

“Anyway, I may regret this decision because you’re an absolute knob and you know just how to push my buttons, but out of all the audition tracks, your voice harmonized with mine the most seamlessly, and as for playing well together, no one got on with me as quickly as you.”

Harry released the breath he was holding and nearly collapsed to the floor. “Louis—I—thank you so much! I mean—"

“Before we get to that, given our history, I fully understand that it will be tricky working in close proximity, and sharing vulnerable moments through song writing, and spending so much time together. I just hope there can be a mutual respect and understanding of personal space between the two of us. Sound good?"

Harry did deflate a little at Louis’ tough stance on not letting business mix with pleasure, but at least he was going to get the opportunity to work with a man of such talent and creativity, he couldn’t wait to see what they could come up with.

“Yes of course. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize this opportunity by disrespecting you in any way. I’m just very, very, excited to get in the studio to see what we can get into.”

“I’m loving this change of tone Mr. Styles,” Harry’s knees wobbled at Louis’ soft voice addressing him in that way, “Keep it up and I might actually believe it.”

“I won’t let you down, I promise.” Harry knew Louis didn’t know those words were actually loaded with past mistakes, and the hunger of redemption within himself, and his career, but he still hoped the message was clear that he was not going to fuck up this time around.

“I’ll keep you to it, Styles.” Harry couldn’t help the blush that crept up his cheeks but Louis wasn’t there to see it so he figured he was in the clear, “When are you free again to meet for studio time?”

Harry paused for a second to check his non-existent calendar, he didn’t want to seem too eager, and hummed out, “Mmm, I’m free tomorrow if that works for you. We can meet in the morning or afternoon, which ever.”

“Sure that works. We can meet a little after ten, I’ll go set it up right now,” Harry’s heart rate sped up at the words. This was real. He was actually going to be able to work with Louis in less than 24 hours, “Shame that deciding your meal is going to take up the rest of the day. I was actually going to invite you out to a celebratory lunch and maybe start our studio sessions today.”

“Oh, well, we still can if—“

“No, no. I won’t keep you from your task. You’re free tomorrow anyway.”

Dammit.

“I suppose,” Harry sighed. Louis was good. He was going to have to step it up, “Well enjoy the rest of your day. I truly am looking forward to tomorrow.”

Silence stretched on long enough Harry had to check and see if Louis hung up, “I’m looking forward to it, too. See you soon.”

And before Harry could get out a Goodbye the call disconnected.

He trotted over to his sofa, gently spread himself out on top, and folded his arms underneath his head. He inhaled deeply and exhaled a relieved breath he’d seemingly been holding for three days. He couldn’t wait to see Louis again, and even though their relationship was remaining strictly business professional, that seemed to be more than enough for Harry.

\--

 


	6. Chapter 6

Harry pushed through the doors of the studio building, energy coursing vigorously through his veins, and guitar slung safely over his shoulder. He walked down the labyrinth of hallways leading to different studio doors until he reached the one with Tomlinson/Styles penciled in underneath the studio number. He knocked twice before slowly clicking the door open.

“Hello?” Harry peaked in and saw Louis sitting with his back to the couch on the floor, with a bowl between his legs, a pomegranate in one hand, and a spoon in the other. Louis looked up at Harry, and flicked his fringe out of his sleepy blue eyes.

“Good morning.” he yawned out and started to bang his spoon against the fruit.

“Good morning,” Harry walked further in and set his guitar down on top of the couch, “Why are you banging a spoon against a pomegranate?”

“I need my voice to be a tad more throaty today and didn’t want to swallow down loads of sugary drinks, so I just turned to natures sugar, and turns out it’s a bitch to get these little seeds out.”

Harry laughed fondly and bent his legs to join Louis on the ground, “Let me try.”

Louis handed over the torn apart fruit with the bowl and spoon. Harry placed the bowl between his legs, and began to bang the spoon against the skin of the fruit, letting the seeds drop into the bowl. It wasn’t hard at all. The seeds were dropping out at ease.

Harry looked over at Louis with a raised eyebrow. Louis’ semi-impressed expression dropped when he caught on to Harry staring at him.

“Why is it working for you? I’ve been beating that thing for ten minutes now!”

“Weak,” Harry huffed out a laugh and barely dodged the seed aimed straight for his head, “Hey!”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Louis snatched the bowl between Harry’s legs and threw a handful of the seeds into his mouth. He offered the bowl back to Harry and he politely accepted.

He grabbed a handful and popped them into his mouth humming at the pleasant flavor of the juice exploding from the seeds.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” he said through a mouthful of fruit.

“Mmm!” Louis hopped up and grabbed a few papers from the mixing desk.

He shuffled back over and handed the papers to Harry before speaking, “I’m going to lay down a few vocal tacks today, so, I hope you know how to hit the play and record button. After that I’ll come out here and teach you your part on guitar, and the verses I want you to back me up on. Those are the lyrics right there."

Harry flipped through the papers and skimmed over the words, “Alright, I can do that.”

“Oh! And if you ever have any idea’s of your own when it comes to lyric changes, tempo, tone, anything, please don’t hold back.” He bent down and grabbed another handful of seeds and stuffed them in his mouth. His lips were slightly stained red from the juices of the fruit, and Harry wanted so badly just to have a taste.

Fuck. Not here. Not now.

Harry set the bowl to the side and got up to sit at the mixing desk, “Whenever you’re ready I’ll be over here.”

He read over the words Louis handed to him, and tried to interpret the scribbled out lines, that Louis decided were better off left out. The song must be very personal to him seeing as most of the lyrics consisted of heart break and wasting a terrible amount of time on a person. Harry felt like he was intruding on Louis’ personal life, but Louis didn’t seem to mind if he was handing the lyrics over, and telling Harry his input was welcome.

Harry was broken out of his trance when he heard Louis stepping into the recording booth. Louis rolled up the sleeves to his jumper and placed the headphones over his ears.

“If you could reach over to my laptop and select track 2. Press record when I give the thumbs up, yeah?” he spoke into the mic.

Harry did as he was told and let the ballad take over him. He tapped his foot along to the slow rhythm of piano and digitally added violin’s blending together. He looked up just when Louis gave him the thumbs up and pressed the record button on the table.

Louis’ voice was raspy and vulnerable. His lyrics were thick with emotion and Harry caught the subtle wobble in his voice when he began to sing about the hurt. Louis squeezed his eyes shut and pushed through the end of the song without letting his professional facade crack.

The music faded out and Louis opened his eyes to give Harry another thumbs up. Harry hit the stop button to end the recording.

“Can you play it back for me?” Louis spoke softly through the mic.

Harry selected the recording and pressed play. It was even more emotional hearing it a second time. Louis’ voice wavered slightly against the music and the look of disappointment on his face wasn’t helping. Harry bit his lip trying to contain the words of comfort from spilling out of his mouth.

The clip ended and Louis spoke up, “What did you think?”

“I um—“ Harry cleared his throat and did his best to look into Louis’ eyes, “The music is beautiful, and I can tell it’s very personal to you,” Louis nodded his head and adverted his eyes away, “I know how hard it can be singing about these situations in front of other people. If you want we can do another song or you can just teach me the guitar part?”

Louis shook his head and leaned in to speak into the mic, “No, I’m good. S’just about a shitty ex, and I get frustrated thinking about him sometimes, but I’ll live,” Harry eyed him worryingly and searched his face for any hesitation, “I’m fine, love, and the faster we get these vocals down, the faster you get to learn your parts.”

“Okay,” Harry leaned on his elbows and hovered a finger over the play button, “Let’s run it a few more times and then we can move on.” Louis nodded in agreement and Harry pressed the button beneath his finger.

They recorded and cut the clips until Louis and Harry both agreed he found that throaty sound he’d been looking for. It took a few trips into the booth delivering Louis more pomegranate seeds, but it was worth finally nailing the vocals, and seeing the look of relief on Louis' face.

Harry walked over to his guitar on the couch and checked the time on his phone. It was nearing 11 am and Harry hadn’t even thought to ask how much time Louis paid for. Louis exited the recording booth and sat down in the chair next to his laptop.

“How much longer do we have here before we get kicked out?”

Louis pulled out his phone from his pocket and cursed under his breath when he saw the time, “Bloody hell.”

He quickly saved what was on his laptop and shut it carefully. He placed it in a bag he pulled from underneath the table and stood up to address Harry, “I usually rent out two hours of studio time, but since I’m paying for you too I have to cut it down to an hour.”

“You don’t have to pay for my time,” Harry rushed out and Louis crossed his arms giving Harry a slightly confused look, “Seriously, I can pay for our other hour if you need me to.”

“The deal for this project was that I’d pay the time for who ever I chose.”

“And I’m telling you, you don’t have to.”

“Well I’m going to. It’s only fair.”

“Louis—“ Harry sighed a frustrated breath. He was only coming through on his promise but Harry felt like he was being too stubborn, “I have more than enough money saved to pay for an extra hour of studio time. It really isn’t a problem for me.”

“No, Harry. I made a deal and you’re already doing enough just by showing up and helping me out. Please just let me pay for us.”

Harry growled and ran a hand through his hair and gave his roots a good tug. “Fine, but this doesn’t mean we have to stop working. I live only a couple blocks away and I have some equipment that could be of use.”

“Absolutely not. I am not falling for that one again.”

Harry couldn’t help the exasperated laugh that left his mouth. “No offense, Louis, but I’m not trying anything with you. We both made it clear this is just a working relationship. It would be a waste if we just ended our session when the time runs out here.”

Louis seemed to consider this as he chewed on his lip lightly. He uncrossed his arms and rolled his eyes with a huff, “Fine, but I get to use your parking space because I don’t feel like walking,” he gathered his bags and pulled his keys from his pocket. Harry sat there idly watching Louis move from one corner of the room to the other, “You coming? We don’t have all day, Styles.”

Harry shook himself and quickly grabbed his guitar, and followed Louis out of the room, and out of the building. They walked briskly to Louis’ black jeep and set their belongings in the back seat. Louis’ trunk was filled to the brim with bags and suitcases, and Harry wondered what was inside them all, but decided not to comment on it.

He sat himself in the passenger seat and buckled himself in.

“You’ll have to refresh my memory a bit, love, it’s been quite some time.” Louis started his ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.

Harry had to remind himself that ‘Love' was just a slip of the tongue, and that’s just how they spoke over in England. He gave Louis a short list of directions and remained silent the entire ride.

—

“Love what you’ve done with the place.” Louis complimented as he walked in behind Harry.

He peeked over his shoulder and caught Louis giving him a genuine smile. He dropped his keys on the kitchen counter and turned away so Louis wouldn’t catch sight of his dimples, “Thanks. I’ve had some spare time to properly move in.”

“Must be nice. What do you do to be able to afford all this?”

Harry was sure Louis was just innocently curious and didn’t mean anything by it, but he froze, and his stomach dropped anyway, “I—it’s paid for—I don’t have to pay rent or anything.” fuck. That was probably the worst answer he could’ve gone with.

“Paid for? Are you secretly from a rich family or something?” Louis quirked an eyebrow at him and awaited Harry’s answer.

“I wish, but no.” Harry hoped that was vague enough to kill the topic of conversation.

“A sugar baby, then?”

Harry choked on air at Louis’ words, “Louis! No, I am not a 'sugar baby.'”

Louis rolled his eyes seemingly uninterested in Harry’s living situation all over again.

“Was just trying to get to know my colleague, jeez,” he walked around to the front of the couch and crashed down against it.

His fringe fanned over his forehead delicately and his sweater was raised up just enough to reveal a sliver of tanned skin. This was fucking harder than Harry thought it would be, and it didn’t help that Louis had his legs spread in an inviting position.

“As much as I love being admired from a distance, I’d much rather you go get your equipment, so we can get back to work.”

Fuck, Harry needed to be less obvious.

“Don’t flatter yourself, baby.” two could play this game. So much for strict professionalism.

Harry walked towards his room throwing a wink at Louis’ blushing face. He opened the door and pulled his box of equipment out from his closet. He grabbed two sets of headphones, microphones, and mic stands, and wrapped the cords around his arm.

He walked back out to his living room to the sight of Louis half asleep and curled up on his couch. Harry sat down on the end Louis was not occupying and began setting up his equipment on the table. He pulled the laptop from Louis bag and plugged in the wires to the usb and into his mic’s and guitar. Louis stayed completely still during all of this and his breathing had evened out.

He looked so peaceful but Harry knew they had plenty of work to do.

He reached over and shook his shoulder, “Lou, wake up,” he paid no mind to the comfortable nick name and continued to shake him awake.

Louis hardly budged, though, and Harry felt bad for having to wake him from his sleep. He lifted himself up off the couch and crouched down in front of Louis. He lifted a hand to Louis’ face and pat it gently twice, “Hey, you can nap later, but we have some stuff to do,” he spoke gently and ran his thumb across the high point of Louis’ cheek bone.

This was probably invading Louis’ personal space and was definitely creepy as fuck, but Harry couldn’t help the instinctual feeling of just being soft with him.

“Get away from me.” Louis rasped out without opening his eyes.

Harry removed his hand from Louis face and moved a few inches back, “Not until you sit up and get to work.”

Louis grumbled and rubbed at his eyes, but eventually sat all the way up against the couch, “Sorry. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Bloody seats aren’t—“ he cut himself off immediately and turned the subject back to music, “I mean, um—let’s teach you your part, yeah?”

Harry could sense something was up and he wanted to know if Louis was alright, but knew it wasn’t his place to ask about it.

He grabbed his guitar as Louis got up to grab his. He listened to Louis play the piece once and could pretty much mimic the rhythm after that. They both played the same part for a while before Louis instructed him to add to it and make it his own.

Harry took the direction with ease and began to pick at his strings. He found a pattern that was uniquely his but still fit with the somberness of the song. Louis offered his words of encouragement and told him to keep that same pattern going. Harry continued to pick at the same strings while Louis strummed along rhythmically and sang a verse over the music.

“This is where you’ll come in.” Harry watched and continued to play as Louis sang out the lines that Harry would harmonize with. Harry vaguely knew the words and paused his playing to reach back for the paper with the lines written on it. He placed it in front of him and resumed his playing.

“Think you can try it with me now?” Louis annunciated over the rhythm still coming from his guitar. Harry nodded his head and practically glued his eyes on the words in order to not mess up. “Okay, 1, 2, 3, 4…”

Louis began to sing the verse again and Harry gave himself a second to recognize the harmony before he joined in, and when he did, it was pure magic.

Louis’ vulnerability mixed with Harry’s guarded voice shouldn’t have worked, but it did. The melodies from their guitars provided a perfect caress to their tenor and baritone duet. They both failed miserably at containing their excited smiles, which resulted in Harry laughing and cutting himself off from the song.

“I’m sorry, that was just really—I don’t know—just, so great.”

“Are you kidding me?” Louis nearly shouted, “You’re bloody brilliant, Harry! I’ve never got on with another musician like this,” he didn’t bother concealing his happiness this time around and reached forward to open something on his laptop, “D’you mind trying again while I record?”

“No, let’s do it,” Harry sat up and brought the mic closer to him and tipped it upward so it would catch his voice and guitar, “Ready?”

Louis nodded and silently mouthed _1, 2, 3, 4…_

The second version was just as beautiful as the first, possibly even better. Harry had to avoid eye contact with Louis so he could get through the lyrics without his grin overwhelming him. They got through the entire verse effortlessly and Louis quietly reached over to hit the stop button.

Louis sat back without saying a word. He stared back at Harry and let an adoring smile take over his face. Harry wasn’t much better forcing himself to bite down on his lip to prevent words of praise from falling from his mouth.

“Good job, Styles.” Louis said almost too quiet for Harry to hear.

Harry hadn’t heard words of encouragement about his music in so, so long. He was going to make sure he always made Louis, and himself, proud.

—

Harry jolted from his sleep at the sound of his door bell pinging. He felt the warmth of Louis’ body pressed against his chest and realized his arm was wrapped securely around his shoulder.

In the past few hours, Louis and Harry managed to change and tweak a few things, and record and complete Louis’ song. They worked up enough of an appetite to order in a couple of large pizzas. They must have dozed off during their time waiting for the food to be delivered.

Harry gently peeled himself from Louis and smirked at the fact that Louis cuddled up to him in his sleep. He grabbed his wallet from the kitchen counter and padded over towards the door. The delivery boy handed over the pizza and recited Harry’s total to him. Harry accepted the boxes and paid the boy double the amount and told him to keep the change.

He kicked the door shut behind him and went to set the food down on the table. Louis was still knocked out on the couch and Harry took a second to admire his sleeping state.

He was just so…pretty. His long eyelashes swept over his high cheek bones, his dusty pink lips were slightly parted, and his body was elongated enough to show off all of his  _sinful_ , yet soft curves.

Harry realized he was being creepy again and brought his hands to Louis’ shoulders and shook them aggressively, “Louis! Food is here!”

Louis gasped awake and had a moment of genuine fear before throwing Harry’s hands off him, and pouting, “You’re such a bloody pain in my arse, you know that?”

Harry dimpled and reached out to smooth the line between Louis’ brows, “Yeah, but you cuddled up to this pain in your ass in your sleep.”

Louis rolled his eyes so far back into his head Harry was afraid they would get stuck.

He stood and pushed past Harry and walked over to the dinner table, “Why am I not surprised you didn’t set the table before waking me.”

Harry didn’t even think about that. He’s so used to just eating from the box on his couch, “Wanted to see you try and reach for the plates.” he went with instead.

Louis glared at him and shot the middle finger before walking over to open each cabinet in search of the plates. Once he found them, he pushed up on his toes, and stretched his arms up to reach, causing the hem of his sweater to ride up above the dimples in his back.

Harry should’ve thought this through. He felt his cock stir at the sight of Louis jeans stretched tight over his thick thighs and ass, and. Fuck. The thoughts he was having were not business professional.

“Why don’t you make yourself useful, and get us some drinks, instead of ogling my back side.” Louis suggested as he pulled the plates from the cabinet.

Harry snickered at his tone, “You make it too easy. Who even wears jeans that tight?” he walked towards the fridge to browse through his selection of drinks.

“Harry, are you really that unaware of yourself? Your designer jeans are practically painted on.” he heard Louis shout from the dinner table.

He decided to ignore Louis’ dig and reached further into the fridge, “What do you want to drink? I pretty much just have beer and milk.”

“Jesus, Harry,” Louis sighed and and bit back a laugh, “I’m gonna have to go with beer this time.”

Harry grabbed two bottles and twisted the caps off. He walked over towards Louis and set them on the table. He sat down across from him and saw that his plate was already piled with a few slices of pizza.

“Thanks, baby.” Harry shot him a wink and linked their ankles together.

“Don’t make me regret it.” he warned but he didn’t remove Harry’s legs from around his.

They both dug in and moaned at the flavor. They tore through their first slice quickly enough, before moving on to their second. Harry swallowed down a few gulps of his drink and felt the _liquid courage_  start to kick in. He took a bite of his pizza and spoke through his mouthful, “You want to play 20 questions?”

Louis shot him a look of disgust and swallowed down his food, “Are we 15 again, or what?”

“No,” Harry downed his food and slapped a pout on his face, “Just want to get to know you better.”

Louis sighed and sipped down a few ounces of his drink, “Ask away.”

“The track we recorded today…who is it about?”

Louis nearly spit his drink across Harry’s table but managed to keep it down after a few seconds of coughing, “Getting right to it I see,” he wiped his mouth and set his glass back down, “Obviously it’s about my ex. His name is Zayn,” he pulled his phone from his pocket and opened his gallery.

He handed his phone over and Harry instantly wanted to crush it. The man was fucking unreal. Black slicked back hair, honey-brown doe eyes, features chiseled by Da Vinci himself, and straight white teeth smiling back at Louis. In the picture Louis was looking back at him with nothing short of admiration in his eyes, and Harry’s heart slightly clenched.

He slid the phone back over and refrained from letting his jealously show, “He’s gorgeous, Lou.”

“He’s alright,” Harry watched as Louis deleted the picture from his camera roll, “We broke up a little over a year ago.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Louis sighed and pocketed his phone, “No, you might as well know since you’re featured on a song written about him,”

He straightened in his seat and squeezed at Harry’s ankles with his own.

“We met the summer before Uni, at registration. We were actually just really close mates at first, and then two years in, he made it official by surprising me with dinner and flowers in our flat,” Louis seemed to drift of to the simpler time in their relationship, “At first he was very supportive of my dream, to get my degree in music, move to LA to pursue a career of singing, and having a record deal, and selling out shows across the US, but as time progressed, he became more critical, and less constructive. He became so ugly to the point where he would say my plans were ‘unrealistic’ and ‘silly’, and after hearing that repeated to me so many times, I began to believe it.”

Harry reached his hand over the table and took Louis’ in his giving it a tight squeeze, “He’s wrong, Louis. You’re so amazing—“

“I know he was wrong for treating me the way he did,” he laced their fingers together and clung on for support, “But sometimes I still wonder if he was ever wrong in his criticisms.”

Harry shook his head and was starting to get heated at the idea someone made Louis believe he was less than what he’s worth.

“Don’t get me wrong, Zayn was loving and nurturing when he needed to be, and our relationship wasn’t always shit, but in our last year of uni, I figured out he was just tearing me down so he wouldn’t get left behind in England. He figured if I didn’t believe in myself enough to fulfill my dream, he’d get to keep me there, and things would remain the same,” he inhaled deeply and exhaled through his nose seemingly trying to keep his cool, “I was manipulated for an entire year, and one day I just realized, I can’t love someone who would do that to me. I couldn’t let him have that control over me,” he looked up at Harry through tear filled eyes threatening to spill over at any second, “Sometimes I get so angry at myself for not realizing sooner, but then I remember, I’m lucky to have realized at all.”

At that, Harry tugged Louis out of his chair, over towards him, and sat him in his lap. He wrapped his arms around Louis’ back and rocked him gently back and forth. Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and sniffled into his curls.

Harry leaned back and pressed a kiss to the side of Louis’ head, “You’re so strong, Louis, and so smart,” he ran his hands up and down his back soothing him into a even breathing pattern, “You’re so brave for moving out here to live out your dream, and someday you are going to make it. You’re going to be selling out arenas across the _world_  and you’re going to be worth every last penny,” he pressed another kiss to the side of Louis’ head and decided now is a better time that any to come clean, “You wanna know how I know you’ll make it?”

He pulled Louis back, brushed his fringe out of his eyes, and wiped at the tear tracks across his cheeks, “How do you know, Harry?”

Harry draped his arms back around Louis waist and made sure they were both comfortable before starting, “I was signed to Sony Entertainment about 5 months ago, in fact, the day we met was the day I was dropped.”

Louis gave Harry a confused look and Harry nodded his head, “Yeah, I was discovered in a Juice Bar somewhere across town, by the director of A&R himself. He told me to drop off some demos at the studios, and from then on my world changed,” he adjusted Louis one last time to be able to look him in the eyes, “A little over six months ago I was on everyone’s radar as the next _it boy_ , I suppose, and I would make appearances, and perform a couple songs, then I would collect my paycheck, and drink for the next week straight. I was fucked up more than half the time I was in the studio, and I had to cancel more than a few sessions with big name producers and writers, all because I couldn’t pull my head out of the toilet. I wasn't an alcoholic, it was just there at my disposal, and I knew I had the option to say no, and do my actual job, but it was just so easy for me to slip into the ugly side of ‘fame’ and have drinks handed to me from every angle.”

Harry took a breath and prepared for the other half of his long winded story. Most people would have gotten bored by now, but Louis was attentive, and anticipating whatever words were coming next.

“I got kicked out of the condo I was living in, I was forced to give up my rights to all the songs I wrote for them, and I was forced to let them keep any images that were taken of me during that time. They moved me into this apartment as consolation, I guess, and paid my rent for thirteen months,” Louis nodded his head in realization when Harry answered the questions he had from before.

“None of that would ever happen to you, Louis. You’re too hardworking and focused to let the little socialites of LA ruin your chances like I did. I was an arrogant singer, who let his vision, and ambitions slip, and was humbled in the hardest way possible. But not you. You’re already humble and caring, and I wish I had half the ambition in me that you have in the tiny tip of your pinky.”

Louis let out at wet chuckle at that and tucked a curl behind Harry’s ear, “Everybody fucks up when they’re young, Harry. You shouldn’t diminish the ambitions you have now just because your past didn’t work out the way you wanted.”

Harry never thought of it that way and he was so glad he had Louis here to help him realize that, “You see what I mean about you being so smart?”

Louis’ lips turned up at the end and his eyes crinkled with happiness.

“You care about people and I remember when you said you wanted to be able to give back with your art. None of that ever crossed my mind, all I wanted was notoriety, and money, and people to wait on me hand and foot,” he stared into Louis’ eyes intensely, “You deserve this more than anyone I know, and your talent and kind heart is going to take you further than you can imagine.”

Harry squeezed Louis to his chest tightly and placed a quick peck to the skin of his neck.

“We’re pretty shit at following the whole 20 question rule.”

They both burst out into laughter and Harry took Louis’ chin between two fingers to face him, “You can always ask me anything. Or tell me anything. Any time of the day. I’ll be there.”

Louis smiled slightly and chewed on his lip, “I guess I should tell you one more thing, then.”

Harry furrowed his brows in concern, “Yeah, anything.”

“Remember when I told you I was crashing on a friends couch until I found a place?”

“Yeah…”

“Well the bastard demanded I pay half his rent or be moved out. So, basically, I’ve been living out of my Jeep for the past three days.”

“Louis! You had my number why didn’t you call me?” Harry belted out

“Oi relax! I stayed at a motel the second night so I could get a shower in. I didn’t die! And besides, I had auditions to sort through, I was too busy to be a beggar.”

Harry lifted him up off his lap and went to search for Louis’ keys, “Let’s go get your stuff.”

“Harry wha—“

“I’m not going to move all your shit up here alone. It’s the least you can do for not immediately calling me up for a place to stay.”

“It’s not that easy, Harry—“

“Not another word, Lou,” he picked up his keys off the table and made his way to the front door, “Let’s get you settled in and showered, you stink.”

“Oh piss off.”

He held the door open for Louis and didn’t miss the soft _thank you_  as he passed him by.

—

After making space for Louis to store his things away, they both sprawled out on Harry’s bed, mildly exhausted from a mini move-in. Louis made it clear that he scored a few shifts at the studio, and that he would be out of Harry’s hair in no time, but Harry didn’t mind. In fact, he was looking forward to having Louis as a roommate.

“You can take the shower first, and I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.” Harry said through a yawn.

Louis turned his head to look at Harry, “Thanks. Will there be towels this time?”

Harry tossed his body to face Louis and nodded his head sleepily. He was struggling to keep his eyes open. It had been a long, yet, productive day, and Harry knew he was going to get amazing sleep tonight.

Louis pushed himself up off the bed and ruffled a hand through Harry’s curls, “Don’t miss me too much.”

Harry watched as Louis swayed his hips deliberately and entered the bathroom, “I would never.”

Louis threw him one last shy smile before closing the door and leaving Harry alone on his bed. If it were appropriate to join your co-worker/roommate in the shower, he would, but as for right now, he’ll squeeze in a few minutes of sleep.

—

Harry was woken up to the sound of Louis chuckling as he poked at Harry’s cheek. He cracked one eye open and surprised Louis by quickly grabbing him by the wrist and tossing him onto the bed. Harry untangled himself from the sheets, and threw his body on top of Louis, covering him from head to toe.

Louis was squirming underneath him but it was useless to the weight of Harry’s sleep heavy body.

“Get your giant arse off me!” Louis muffled through a mouthful of curls.

Harry just cuddled himself closer. He wrapped his arms underneath Louis’ shoulders to give him a tight squeeze. Louis’ body was still warm from the shower, and his hair smelled like he rinsed it with rose water. Harry wanted to stay in this position for the rest of the night, but he was sure Louis was suffocating beneath him, and Harry was probably in need of a shower.

Harry rolled off him and sucked his teeth at the sound of Louis gasping for air dramatically, “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it.”

Harry hopped off the bed and made his way over to his dresser to pull out a fresh pair of boxers. That was usually all the slept in, but now he had a guest in his home, and figured it might not be appropriate. He opened up another drawer and pulled out a plain white t-shirt and made his way over to the bathroom.

He looked back to see Louis tapping away at his phone screen and decided not to bother him.

—

  
Harry could not get into his shower fast enough.

Being around Louis all day was intoxicating and inspiring, but if Harry didn’t get a hand on himself in the next sixty seconds, he was going to lose his damn mind.

He opened the glass shower door and turned on the water to let it warm up. He stripped down and tossed his clothes into the hamper. He met his eyes in the mirror and considered what he was about to do. He was in the privacy of his own bathroom, but Louis was literally awake in the next room, laid out against his bed, with his fringe drying delicately, and his skin cooling down from the hot water, and his shirt riding up on his curves, and….where was this going?

Fuck! Harry couldn’t help himself. He stepped through the glass door shutting it behind him, and adjusted the shower head to spray directly over his body. He teased himself for a bit by letting a hand graze over his nipples, and the other, to thumb at the slit of his, quickly, hardening cock.

He leaned his head forward against the wall and imagined a dripping wet Louis dropping to his knees in front of him. He began to tug on himself and used the warm water to ease the slide of his hand. He pictured Louis lips suckling at the tip, just like the tease he is, and began to speed up the motions of his hand. He gave his right nipple a sharp twist and gasped out loud at the spark of pleasure that coursed throughout his body.

“Fuck, Louis.” he whispered into the wall.

He brought his arm up to his mouth and bit down as he imagined Louis slightly choking on his length, but taking it all the way down anyway, and fondling his balls. The sound of his cock fucking into his fist was probably too loud, but there was no way Harry could ease off now. He pictured pulling Louis off of his cock and coming on his gorgeous, fucked-out face, and that did it for him. Harry tensed and shot off into the drain, embarrassingly fast, and bit down harshly at the skin of his arm to not make a sound.

He tugged on his cock until he was completely finished and caught his breath until it was even.

He grabbed his body wash and scrubbed himself of his post-mastubation shame. God, that was the best release he’s had in weeks, he just hoped Louis heard no part of it. He rinsed off his body and began to shampoo and condition his hair. He lathered, rinsed, and watched the suds swirl down the drain.

Harry was dreading leaving the shower, but the water was starting to run cold and his skin was turning pruney. He shut off the water and reached out of the glass door for a towel on the shelf. He rubbed the water from off of his body and wrapped the towel around his head. He stepped out of the shower and wiped away the fog from the mirror. His cheeks were still rosy and his nipples were standing at attention.

Louis’ impact looked nice on him.

He grabbed his moisturizer and ran it slowly across his body hoping to kill some time. There was no sound coming from the other side of the door and Harry hoped it was because Louis was asleep. He removed the towel from his head and shook out his curls. He grabbed his boxers and slid them up his long legs, and threw on his t-shirt to cover his torso.

He paused in front of the door and checked one last time for any signs of movement on the other side. When he heard nothing he decided it was time to face the music.

Ha.

He flicked off the light and carefully pulled the door open.

His bedroom light was off, but he could still see Louis was facing away from him under a pile of blankets. Harry let out a sigh of relief and shut the door behind him. He walked over to his closet to pull out a blanket he could sleep with, tip-toed over to the bed to grab a pillow that was unoccupied by Louis, and quietly made his way out of the room.

He tossed the pillow to a corner of the couch and flopped down against it. He let the days events play over in his head. He was proud of the work the two of them accomplished today, and was extremely glad they got to open up to each other a little more. He knew Louis wasn’t looking for anything at the moment, but Harry believed they could possibly become close friends, who create great music.

Yeah, close friends.

He knew how quickly he’d jump at the chance to be with him, but what Louis didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

\--


	7. Chapter 7

Louis had been living with Harry for a few weeks now, and the two of them have sorta fallen into a routine. Louis was hired at the studio full-time during the week, and continued to play various open mic nights around the city on weekends.

Harry spent most of his time rubbing elbows with the volunteer producers at the studio. He was learning the ins and outs of the recording business, and more than a few times, he got them to mix and master Louis’ tracks, without Louis’ knowledge.

When they were both home at the same time, they were either recording, or flirting.

Well…

The flirting was mostly done by Harry, but every once in a while Louis would remind Harry how pretty he was, or he’d twirl his fingers in Harry’s curls, making it extremely hard to keep his hands to himself.

He’d rile Harry up just to instantly cut it off using the excuse 'just thought up a lyric' or 'need to get this melody out of my head’. Either way Harry has gotten off alone in the shower more than a few times.

When he wasn’t teasing Harry to death, Louis would face time his ‘mum’ at least twice a week, and Harry would always go into the next room, to allow him some privacy. He hadn’t talked to his own mother in ages.

It might have something to do with the fact that neither of his parents supported his decision to move out to LA, and any time Harry tried to make contact with them over the past few years, their numbers changed.

Ugh.

He needed some air.

He slid the door to his balcony open and braced himself for the frigid breeze. Winter was right around the corner and the temperature always seemed to drop fifty degrees when the sun went down. Harry slid the door behind him closed and leaned his elbows against the railing. There were a few people walking the streets of downtown LA, but overall it was a fairly quiet night.

He bent his head to fist his hands in his hair. He gently tugged on it and released some of the tension collecting at the back of his skull. The cool breeze drifted over him and he inhaled the crisp, cold, air and let it sit in his lungs until it burned to release.

“Harry?”

He startled at the voice behind him then instantly relaxed when he saw it was Louis. He was dressed in one of Harry’s old black sweaters and a pair of his own “joggers” or whatever it was he called them. His hair was messily swept back off his forehead with a few strands still framing his face. Harry wanted to kiss him.

“Hey, Lou.” he gave him a weak smile and turned back towards the railing.

Louis stepped out and slid the door behind him shut. His teeth were chattering as he shuffled up close next to Harry, “Y’alright, love? What are you doing out in the cold?”

Harry wrapped an arm around his shivering body and brought him in closer to his side, “Just wanted to get some fresh air. I’m alright.”

Louis looked up at him warily and Harry answered his expression with a smile. “I’m fine. I promise.”

“Okay,” he cuddled in closer and let his head rest on Harry’s chest, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

Harry looked down at him and rubbed his hand up and down Louis’ arm, “Ask away, little one.”

Louis pulled back with a scowl on his face, and it took everything in Harry not to burst out laughing.

“M’not little,” he stated firmly. He pulled back a little further, turned Harry to face him, and wrapped his arms around his waist. Harry mimicked the motion and wrapped his arms around Louis’ shoulders bringing him in closer, “I was wondering—well two things actually—but first thing is, would you like to meet my mum? Over FaceTime of course, I obviously don’t have the funds to fly us both out there, but I’ve told her a bit about you and what we’re doing, and all of the music we’ve been creating, and she would really like to meet you.” Harry’s dimples deepened to their fullest extent as Louis rambled on, “I mean only if you want to. You don’t—“

“Of course I’ll meet her, Louis. I’d love to,” he hugged him close and rocked them back and forth, “You talk to your mom about me. How precious.”

Louis scoffed into his chest and shook his head.

Harry pulled back slightly to look at Louis, “Should I change into something nicer?” he was in a dark gray sweatshirt and jeans, but he felt like he should put on his best attire for the occasion.

“Why? You look fine.”

“I want to make a good first impression.”

“Oh, please,” he buried his head into Harry’s chest and tightened his hold around his waist, “One look at the green-eyed-curly-haired-dimple-face and she’ll be a goner.”

Harry laughed out loud at that and bent down to whisper in Louis’ ear, “What about you, hm? Were you a goner with just one look?”

Louis picked his head up and looked Harry straight in the eyes. He pulled Harry in closer with the hands on his waist. His eyes flickered from Harry’s down to his lips. He traced the tip of his tongue over the seam of his lips and brought their faces only a breath apart. Harry was shivering, but no longer because of the cold. He felt Louis' breath ghost over his lips and he fluttered his eyes shut anticipating the feel of Louis’ lips on his.

“No.”

And all the warmth between his and Louis’ body was gone.

He opened his eyes to see Louis scurrying to the door and giggling on his way inside. He heard the distinct ‘click' of the sliding door lock and stood there frozen in shock. Louis shot him a wink from inside and left a sloppy kiss on the glass before walking away.

Well, at least Harry was getting all the fresh air he needed.

And he needed some now more than ever, anyway.

—

“Make some room, please.” Louis demanded.

Harry scooted further into the corner of the couch only to be cut off by Louis dropping his ass right on Harry’s crotch.

“Louis! I can’t meet your mother with a lap full of you!”

“Why not?”

“Because! What would she think of me? I don’t want her to see—“

“Oh quit your crying, Harold. It’s like 7 am over there she’ll barely even register our faces.”

And with that Louis opened the FaceTime app and selected his mothers number. He framed the camera on himself and waited for her to answer. The picture on the other side took a second to load, but when it did it revealed a beautiful woman, with long brown hair, and a button nose just like Louis’.

Louis absolutely lit up, “Good morning, mum!”

“Hi, baby! Sorry it’s so dark over here the girls are still asleep.”

“It’s okay. What do you have planned for the day?”

She sighed and tilted her head up to mentally go over her agenda, “Well after I take the twins to school, I’m working a double, luckily Charlotte has her own car now so she can pick up Fizzy and the twins, but other than that I have nothing planned. You should try and squeeze in a call for the girls some time, yeah?”

“Of course. I miss you all so much.”

“We miss you, too, my love. Very, very much.”

Louis swallowed thickly like he was trying his best to keep his emotions in tact, “Mum, theres someone here I’d like you to meet—“

“OH! Am I finally going to meet Harry?”

Louis blushed deeply and Harry lightly chuckled behind him, “Yes, mum, he’s right here.”

“Well, I haven’t got all day, put him on!” and now Harry knew where Louis got his sass from.

Louis extended his arm as far as he could and Harry squished his face into the frame beside Louis, “Hello, I’m Harry.” he smiled widely and gave Louis’ mother a little wave.

“Oh Louis, he’s so handsome! Even more than you described!” Louis knit his brows together in embarrassment and Harry just snickered at Louis’ turmoil. “I’m Johanna, but you can call me Jay, love.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Jay. Louis always has such great things to say about you, it’s nice to finally put a face to all the stories.”

“And same for you, Harry. I’ve been wanting to meet you for quite some time now.”

Harry looked down at Louis and pinched his side out of the view of the camera, “Well I would have loved to meet you sooner, but this one just asked me a few minutes ago.”

“Don’t believe a word the man says, mum.” Louis looked back at Harry with a small smile on his face and fondness in his eyes.

Harry wasn’t breathing. Sure they’ve had intense stare downs, but nothing compared to the loving look Louis was giving him now. Harry just smiled back and hoped his eyes conveyed the same amount of adoration.

“Harry,” he snapped out of his gaze when he heard Jay speak his name, “Do you mind if I speak to you alone for just a minute?”

“No, not a problem,” Harry went to lift Louis off of him but was stopped when Louis slapped the phone face front into his chest. He raised and eyebrow at Harry and clenched his jaw, possibly trying to warn Harry not to say anything stupid. Harry just smiled and caressed his cheek, before grabbing the phone and walking out on the balcony. Harry directed himself under the outside light and got it to where the most light was hitting his face, “Okay, there we go.”

Jay smiled at him and spoke in a soft tone, “I just wanted to get you alone to say thank you for taking care of my baby.”

“Oh, it’s no problem—“

“I also want to thank you for being so careful with Louis. I’m sure he’s told you about the Z word, yeah?”

“Yes, he has.”

“He probably down played it a bit, because Louis is never one to talk down on someone’s name, but watching him go through that was the hardest thing I ever had to do,” she paused and cleared her throat of rising emotion, “I felt so useless. My only son would come to visit, and each time the spark in his eyes became more dull than the last, and he would wince whenever the subject of music, and his singing career was brought up. He’d been singing his whole life, and just all of a sudden, it stopped. It seemed he'd just given up on his dreams.”

Harry bit his lip and tried not to get angry all over again. Louis’ ex not only did a number on Louis, but his mother too, and God knows who else’s life this affected.

“I don’t mean to let this all out on you, and you’re very kind for letting me blubber a bit, but Louis tells me how well he’s been doing, and how ever since you took him in, his confidence has skyrocketed. Louis is my strong boy, and he can sometimes be too stubborn to ask for help, but it seems to be different with you. You just seem to know when he needs something, and he just seems to trust you completely, and I’m gathering all of this from just a few phone calls. You can imagine how highly he speaks of you, Harry.”

Harry smiled at her words and had a whirlwind of emotions stirring within him, “It’s my absolute pleasure, Jay. You’re son is very special to me and I have no qualms about letting him stay here while he sorts himself out. In fact, it gets a little lonely with him working hard these past few weeks.”

Jay laughed and slightly shook her head, “That’s my boy. So prideful,” a comfortable silence settled between them before Jay checked her watch and sighed at the time, “I’ve got to wake up my girls soon, and get breakfast started, but it was so nice meeting you, Harry, I hope we can keep in touch!”

“Yes of course! I’ll have Louis include me in the next FaceTime session.”

“Thank you, again. Seriously.”

“You’re welcome,” he nodded sincerely “I’ll give you back to Louis before you have to go.” she nodded her head and Harry went to slide the door open, and close it behind him.

Louis was fidgeting nervously with his hands and visibly relaxed when Harry handed the phone back to him. They both said their goodbye’s and I love you’s to each other before ending the call.

Harry sat down on the arm chair adjacent to the couch and in no time had Louis straddled above him. Louis slid his hands into Harry’s curls and tugged tightly, “What did you two talk about?”

Harry clenched his hands into the tops of the arm chair and bit down hard on his lip to prevent a moan from escaping his mouth at Louis’ incessant tugging, “Think that should stay between your mother and I, don’t you agree?”

Louis looked into Harry’s dark green eyes and flicked his gaze down to his lips, “I don’t, actually," he let one hand slide down to cup Harry’s jaw and let the other softly scratch at the back of Harry’s scalp.

Harry’s eyes fluttered shut and he felt Louis ass slowly start to rub figure eights into his crotch. Harry couldn’t help the weak moan he let out at all the light stimulations Louis was providing. Louis leaned forward into Harry’s neck and lightly nosed along it before pressing barely there kisses into the skin. Harry felt himself start to get hard and he began to meet Louis’ slow grinds with his own.

“Lou—"

“You can put your hands on me,” Louis whispered into his ear and gently nibbled at his earlobe shortly after.

Fuck. Louis was finally giving Harry permission to touch and he was not going to miss out on this opportunity.

He wasted no time sliding his hands into Louis’ joggers and found the beautiful surprise of Louis being completely bare underneath. Harry growled and squeezed roughly at Louis’ ass. Louis let out a quiet whimper right in Harry’s ear, and Harry gripped tighter on his cheeks, spreading them apart and squeezing them back together. Harry whined at the feeling of Louis speeding up his thrusts slightly, and sucking a mark into the side of his neck.

“Tell me what you lot talked about, and I’ll let you come like this.”

Fuck. That was an offer Harry could not refuse.

“She—um” he spread Louis’ cheeks and rubbed his fully hard and fully clothed cock between them, “Fuck—she just thanked me for taking you in.”

Louis pulled off his neck and went to nibble at the shell of his ear, “Yeah? That’s all that was said?”

Louis gave Harry a particularly hard grind and Harry went breathless at the feeling, “Yeah, s-said we should keep in touch.”

Louis hummed at his answer seemingly satisfied and let Harry grind up into him a few more times, before completely slipping off him.

“Lou—“

“You make it so easy. It’s not even fun anymore.” Louis snickered and adjusted himself in his joggers.

“Wha—you said you’d let me get off on you if I told you.” Harry heard the words spill pathetically from his mouth, but he couldn’t help it, he was so hard and turned on to the highest level.

“Oops?” Louis cocked his head and gave Harry a devious smile, “Should have withheld information until then.”

Harry brought both hands to cover his face. He was on the verge of tears because he was already so close to coming, and now he was going to have to go pull another one off in the shower.

He stood from the chair not bothering to hide his enormous hard on, and walked right into Louis’ space. He threaded a hand in the back of Louis hair and gently scratched at his scalp, “You are the most frustrating person alive, you know that?” he tugged Louis closer by his neck and left a too long kiss to his forehead. “You’re going to be the death of me, Louis Tomlinson.”

“I wouldn’t do that. Who else would I have to tease if you ever left me?”

When he pulled away Louis gave him a blissed out smile and that same loving softness within his gaze.

At that moment Harry realized he was falling for this man.

He was absolutely gone for Louis Tomlinson, and was undeniably, headed in the direction of love.

His heart didn’t skip a beat. He didn’t get weak in the knees. He felt completely at ease with the realization. He laid one more lingering kiss to his forehead, and hoped Louis would recognize all the feelings behind it.

“I’m going to go take care of this in the shower. You’re more than welcome to join.” he moved past Louis and into his bathroom.

Louis never showed up, and that wasn’t really a surprise, but that didn’t stop Harry from coming with Louis' name on his lips.

\--

“Harry! Can you come here a minute?”

Harry was pulling his briefs up over his legs and was still slightly wet from his shower, but made his way out into the living room, to see what Louis was yelling about.

“Christ, Harry, could you be more indecent? What if my mother was at the door?”

Harry looked down at his scantily clad body and brought his eyes up to see Louis watching as a droplet of water traveled from his chest, down to his abs, and into his light trail of hair below his bellybutton. He smirked and wiped the drop with his fingers, “I know that’s not possible. What did you need?”

Louis ripped his gaze from Harry’s torso and patted the cushion next to him instructing Harry to take a seat, “There was another thing I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he brought his knees up to his chest and rotated his body to face Harry, “This idea has been sitting with me for a long time, and you don’t have to answer right away, but I was just thinking,” he paused for a long moment and flickered his eyes around avoiding Harry’s face.

“What is it?” he rubbed a hand on Louis’ knee to encourage him to spit it out.

“I was wondering, if maybe, you wanted to form some sort of duet with me?” Harry’s eyebrows shot up in shock, and Louis rushed to clarify, “I mean, you can still pursue your own career and everything, but I was just listening to the songs we’ve recorded over the past few weeks, and I kinda want to try it out on a live audience.”

Harry’s face was still strewn up in shock and the hand on Louis knee had halted all movement.

“I figured we could start off with open mic nights and just doing covers together, and when we feel ready, we can add in our own songs, and—not to get too ahead of myself— but if things work out, we could try playing a few venues and maybe add you in on more of the songs, or create entirely new ones, so we can have a demo as a duo.”

Harry took in every last idea Louis threw at him and tried to weigh out his thoughts.

On one hand Harry thought it was an excellent idea, and that the two of them would have a fantastic time in the process, but on the other hand, Harry considered, was this fair?

Louis always wanted to make it big on his own, and Harry didn’t want to be the one to slow down that process or completely throw him off of those tracks.

“Lou,” he turned his gaze over to Louis and gave his knee a tight squeeze, “Are you sure you want this? I mean, what if this side-tracks you from your own career? I don’t want to jeopardize your goals in any way.”

“I’ve thought about that a lot too, Harry, and I know I might sound absolutely ridiculous, but I have to go with my gut on this one.”

Harry quirked a brow in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, it just feels so right when we’re playing together whether it’s here in our living room, or in the studio,” Harry’s heart stuttered at Louis’ use of the word ‘our’, “I just want to try out all of my options, and us performing together happens to be one of them, but I want you to be equally on board with the idea, as well.”

Harry was obviously on board. It was a great idea! Harry hasn’t performed in front of a crowd in ages and now he’s starting to get that itch that only live music could scratch. If Louis was okay with it, Harry was too.

“Alright,” he pinched his bottom lip between his fingertips in concentration, “I’ll need to learn your set, and we’ll have to work out payments, but I’m willing to give this a try.”

Louis pounced on him and forced Harry to make direct eye contact, “Are you really? This isn’t just because it’s something I want, right?”

“No, of course not! I actually think this could be a great thing for us, and if it does’t work out we still have our own music to fall back on,” he grabbed Louis’ face between his hands and grinned slightly manically, “What will we call ourselves?”

“Oh, bloody hell.” he rolled his eyes and pushed his body off of Harry’s.

“That one’s not too bad, kinda grows on you. Would be a big hit in the UK.”

Louis slapped a pillow over Harry’s head and laughed as Harry whined about the blow, “Let’s just go by our names for now, yeah? We have some learning to do, so go get your things.”

“Wait, right now?”

“Did you have other plans tonight, Harold?”

Well, he was about to watch a little bit of tv, and probably get some sleep, but other than that, “No…”

“Good! Let’s get started.”

Harry hopped up off the couch and went to retrieve his instruments. He let a small smile creep over his face when he thought about all the possibilities that could come from this opportunity.

He had a good feeling about this.

\--


	8. Chapter 8

Harry was dying. Like, literally dying.

Okay, not literally, but Jesus fuck he’s never been more nervous in his life.

Tonight was the first night in over half a year that Harry would perform, on a stage, in front of people. Sure, it was a small stage only raised a few feet off the ground, and the people were a crowd of drunk college students, but it felt like more was riding on this performance versus any other ones he’s done solo.

Louis was counting on him, and although he made it clear he just wants to have fun tonight, Harry’ didn’t want to disappoint him. Louis’ reputation was on the line and even though he’s never said it out loud, he’s pouring a lot of trust into Harry, and that’s what has his stomach in knots.

He doesn’t want to fail again, and he especially doesn’t want to fail Louis.

They spent the last week rehearsing and perfecting the covers Harry had to learn. They sounded amazing in their living room, but would that translate on stage tonight? Would the calluses on Harry’s fingertips be worth the payoff?

Would Louis be proud of Harry?

Would Harry be proud of Harry?

He was currently leaning against Louis’ Jeep trying to catch his breath. It was freezing outside, but Harry was sweating like he just got a thirty minute jog in. It was a shame too, because pit stains are not a sure way to make a good impression.

He heard the back door of the building open and close, and could feel someone walking towards him, but pulling on the rings on his fingers kept him occupied as he tried his best to calm down.

“Hey, they’re ready for us if you wanna—“ Harry met Louis’ eyes and he must have looked like shit since Louis gasped out dramatically, “Babe, are you alright? You look so pale,” he brought a hand to Harry’s cheek, “And you’re clammy. Fuck. Are you okay?”

“Just a bad case of nerves. I’ll survive.”

“No, we can’t do this if you’re going to pass out. I’m gonna go let them know—“ as he began to back up towards the building Harry caught his wrist in his hand and pulled him into his chest.

“Louis I’m fine. I just—I don’t want to mess this up. Just want to do well for you. For us.” he spoke into Louis’ artfully brushed hair.

Louis pushed back to look Harry in the face, “What are you on about, love?”

Harry sighed and let his head thunk against the window of the Jeep, “I just don’t want to embarrass you. It’s been so long since I’ve sang or played on a stage with people watching, and I just…don’t want all of our hard work to go to waste.”

“Harry,” he slid a hand to the back of Harry’s neck and eased his head down until he was looking at Louis straight on, “You would never embarrass me—“ Harry scoffed disbelievingly and Louis tugged harshly at his hair, “I mean it! You’re so bloody brilliant, Harry, I can’t understand why you fail to see that. Even if you fell face first on that stage the moment you stepped out there, I’d still be so happy for you, for pushing yourself to get up there. I’m not worried about your music abilities one bit. You’re an absolute professional, and you’re so insanely talented, I’m honored to share the stage with you.”

Harry felt his nerves begin to dissipate and the feeling was replaced with tenderness for the sweet, honest, man in front of him. Louis didn’t have a problem speaking his mind, and if he truly had any concerns about tonight, he’d surely let Harry know.

A smile slowly started to creep up on Harry's face and Louis’ mouth mimicked the movement.

“There’s that pretty smile. C’mon, let’s see those dimples,” he prompted them out by poking at his cheeks and cooed as they appeared, “There they are. You’ll have them all hooked in no time.”

_I only want you_

He grabbed Harry’s head between his hands and spoke sincerely, “You’re going to do great, and we’re gonna kill it in front of the thirty or so people who showed up.” They both laughed into each others faces and Harry was completely calm now.

Louis stared intensely into Harry’s eyes and bit his lip. Harry just let the silence between them sooth him, and before he knew it Louis’ lips were pressed gently to his.

Holy shit.

Louis was kissing him on the mouth. It’s not like they haven’t before, but this was just a kiss out of no where. It totally took Harry by surprise, but he was not complaining.

He snapped out of his initial shock and pressed back with a purpose, softly moving his own lips against Louis’, letting his hands cling to Louis’ hips to bring him closer. Harry took a chance and slowly slid his tongue out and traced it against Louis’.

Louis broke the kiss immediately and panted gently. His lips were pink and shiny and Harry wished the kiss never had to end.

“I’ll see you inside, yeah?” Harry’s jaw was still slightly dropped open and he was sure that his face was blissed the hell out. Louis left him with a crooked smile and trotted back inside.

Living in close quarters with Louis prompted their relationship to be a little too affectionate for just bros being roommates and bandmates. There was always lingering touches and kisses to the cheeks or forehead, but never has Louis kissed him on the mouth with that much...emotion.

Harry realized he could’ve been projecting, but there was no way he misread Louis’ stare, and the softness of his lips against his. What if Louis actually felt something back? The question fired up the butterflies that have made a home in his tummy ever since he met Louis.

God, Harry was definitely falling in love with him. He wanted to tell him a million times by now, but the moment they just had _intensified_  his need for Louis to know.

But before he could think up ways to tell him, he had a show to get through.

—

“Good evening, beautiful people of Los Angeles!” the crowd whooped and hollered as their drinks sloshed over the sides of their cups, and onto the sticky floor, “I’m Louis Tomlinson and this is the other half of our twosome, Harry Styles."

The crowd gave them a warm greeting and a couple of cat calls far off in the back. Harry gave the crowd a small wave, it was all he could manage right now, and Louis seemed to pick up on that quickly.

“It’s our first night playing as a duo, so you’re all in for a treat tonight,” he gave the crowd a winning smile and every last one of them, male or female, ate it up. He was such a natural in front of a crowd and Harry admired that trait about him, “Harry darling, would you mind counting us in?”

It was a simple task but it pushed Harry out of his comfort zone in the gentlest way possible.

Harry shot him one last smile and counted off, “1, 2, 3, 4…”

\--

Louis was right.

Their set went off without a hitch, and they thrived together. Although the crowd was small, they had a ton of energy, and the two of them played off of it well. Their harmonies were in sync, their playing blended rhythmically, and the loud round of applause after each song, had the both of them on cloud nine.

They were currently towing away their equipment into the back of Louis’ jeep and still riding out the adrenaline collected between them.

“Manager said we have a couple free drinks waiting for us at the bar.”

Harry threw the last of their bags in and slammed the trunk behind him, “Well, let’s not keep them waiting then, shall we?”

He wrapped an arm around Louis’ shoulder and led them back into the building. He tightened his hold on Louis as he pushed through the sweaty bodies and made their way to the bar.

“We’re here to accept our payment!” Harry shouted and felt Louis giggle into his side.

“Coming right up!” a male bar tender shouted back.

Harry hasn’t felt this carefree and joyous in ages.

His body was still buzzing from nailing their first set as a duet and he couldn’t wait to to experiment more with different song choices, and different crowds. He also couldn’t wait to see what this meant for them as a duo. He knew it was too early to tell, but his gut told him continuing on as a two-piece would take them as far as they ever dreamed, and beyond that.

Harry realized he was lost in thought staring into Louis’ eyes. He knew it sounded cliche and overly sappy, but Harry wanted to dedicate his life to writing love songs for the man with blue eyes. Only, blue was too simple of a description for eyes like Louis’.

They were more of a perfect blend between forget-me-not and aquamarine, and looking into them was just as calming as watching shimmering waves flood lazily up to the shore.

Jesus. This man has turned him into a love sick puppy.

Louis allowed himself be stared at, poorly hiding a bashful smile behind the hand resting underneath his chin. Harry wanted to lean in for a kiss so badly. He wanted to tell him how much he wanted him, and wanted to see him grow, and wanted him to succeed. He wanted to tell Louis just how much he _loved_  him, and was right on the cusp of letting the words mindlessly slip when—

“Excuse me,” Harry heard a gravely voice from behind him. He turned and saw a tall, tan, handsome man, with black hair fluffed expertly over his head, and his lustful brown eyes trained on Louis, “Hi, I’m Luke,” he reached out a hand to Louis forcing his way in between the two of them.

Louis politely shook his hand and pulled it away when Luke lingered for a bit too long.

“I’m Louis, and this is—“

“I saw you up on stage tonight, and you sounded amazing. I just had to find you and tell you,” Louis blushed at the compliment and murmured a quiet _thank you_ , “I don’t mean to be forward but, can I buy you a drink?”

Louis’ eyes flickered over towards Harry’s and Harry’s heart sank. In that same moment their two free rounds were delivered and Louis began to stutter out an answer.

“I, um, I’m actually—“

“Think I’ll just find a table,” Harry picked up his drinks and removed himself from the bar. Louis’ mouth was open with a protest on the tip of his tongue, but Harry’s emotions got the best of him and he stormed off.

He pushed through the mass of bodies and didn’t give a fuck about bumping into people. The light and airy feeling of enchantment completely went to shit and was replaced by the hot sting of jealousy. Harry clenched around the frosted glasses in his hands and attempted to take his mind off of the situation he just fled from.

During his mini fit of rage he managed to find a sticky table in the far corner of the the building. He set his drinks down and yanked the chair from underneath the table. He dropped to his seat with a huff and began to chug whatever cheap beer they decided to fill his cup with.

He let his eyes scan over the bar looking to see if Louis was still alright. His eyes landed on his curvy figure and spotted a hand on his hip that didn’t belong to Louis. He rolled his eyes and gulped down his cheap alcohol until his first glass was empty.

Harry knew he should have looked away, but he couldn’t. He watched as the man whispered into Louis’ ear and tighten his grip on his hip. He couldn’t see Louis’ face, but he could clearly see his shoulders weren’t exactly stiff, and he wasn’t pulling away.

Harry distracted himself by downing a few gulps of his second beer. It tasted like straight up piss and he couldn’t pretend to enjoy it any longer. He set it down with a grimace and looked up to see Louis turn his head to scan his eyes across the bar. He was probably seeking out Harry and—

Luke took Louis' chin between his fingers and turned his face towards him.

That was enough.

Harry finally ripped his eyes away and squeezed them shut. His stomach lurched and his skin was crawling with unease. The booming music around him felt suffocating and he could no longer stand to be in this environment.

He pushed back from his table not bothering to save the glass of piss beer from crashing to the ground. He pushed and shoved through the crowd of drunk, sweaty bodies. He forced out weak apologies and barely avoided mixed drinks sprinkling onto him.

He made his way out of the back door and inhaled a deep breath of the crisp cool air. He’d never been so thankful for silence and personal space.

Luckily, Harry was anointed as designated driver for the night, and was in control of the keys. He pulled them out of his front pocket and unlocked the doors as he rushed toward the Jeep. He swung the door open, plopped down on the seat, and slammed the door behind him. He turned on the ignition just enough to roll down the windows and let the radio drown out his thoughts.

There couldn’t have been a more relaxing [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTIHiQaEbn8) to cool down too.

The woman’s raspy, soulful voice wrapped around Harry, and the light guitar rocked him gently. The singer crooned about having a _real hard time_  but felt nice knowing _everything’s gonna be alright_.

Harry payed closer attention to the words and found he resonated deeper than he originally thought.

_So I just kept dreaming, yeah, i just kept dreaming_  
_It wasn’t very hard_  
_I spent all this time tryna figure out why_  
_Nobody on my side_

Harry looked back on a time where he could’ve succumbed to being a washed up musician who lived alone, and gave up on his dreams, but just like the song said, he just kept on dreaming, and it wasn’t very hard.

If he never would have pushed himself out of his dead end job, he would have never walked into that studio, never would have auditioned for Louis, and would never have joined forces with such a talented individual as him.

_So please don’t take my feelings_  
_I have found at last_

Damn.

Harry was now completely embarrassed by his actions inside the bar.

He felt like a selfish prick and wished he could forget about the scene completely. They both obviously cared about each other deeply, but Harry had no claim over him. Louis may have kissed him tonight, but that still didn’t mean he wanted Harry in the way Harry wanted him.

Either way he needed to keep things between them cordial.  
  
Harry decided to call it a night and figured he should get back inside to check on Louis before he left. Whether he wanted to leave with Harry, or leave with the Luke guy, Harry needed to make sure he was okay.

He rolled up the windows and pulled the keys from the ignition with a sigh. He exited the Jeep and made it halfway to the door of the building, when it suddenly burst open, and a very angry Louis was pushing through the other side.

“You arsehole!” he stomped harshly towards Harry and gave his chest a shove, “Why would you just leave me like that?! How was I supposed to get home?” he quickly snatched the keys out of Harry’s hands and continued his march to the car, and hopped in on the drivers side.

Harry sprang into action as he heard Louis’ door slam and the ignition cut on.

“Louis!” he dodged out of the way as Louis threw the Jeep into reverse and whipped it onto the street. Harry chased down the quickly retreating car yelling after Louis to stop, but it was useless. Harry stopped in the middle of the street and Louis continued to speed off.

He left him.


	9. Chapter 9

“Thanks,” Harry mumbled as his Uber driver pulled up in front of his building. He crawled out of the back of the car and shut the door behind him. He looked across the street at the parking garage to see Louis had made it home safely. He wasn’t exactly eager to get upstairs and face him, but he knew he had to anyway.

He took the elevator trip up to his floor and walked down the hallway to his door. He didn’t have a key so he was forced to knock. He sat there for a minute, waiting for Louis to unlock it, but he didn’t come. He pressed down on the doorbell three times and hollered for Louis to let him in.

He was just about ready to give up when he heard the lock click. He pushed down on the handle and swung the door open. Louis was dressed in only in his tightest pair of briefs, and must have been freezing his ass off, but before Harry could find out, he disappeared behind Harry’s bedroom door, and slammed it shut.

This was all just one giant misunderstanding and Harry wanted it to be over with already.

He padded over to his door and knocked gently against it, “Louis,” he got no response, “Louis, can I come in? We should talk about this.”

“Go away.”

“Louis you’re being ridiculous! Please don’t make me have this conversation with the door.”

Harry heard shuffling on the other side of the door and before he knew it his door was swinging open. He let himself in and watched as Louis created space between them. Even in his angry state he was still the most beautiful person Harry had ever seen, and he hoped this ended well so he wouldn’t have to lose him. Even if it was just as a roommate.

“Why did you leave?” Louis half shouted half whimpered.

“I didn’t leave you, Louis, you left me!”

“You bloody well deserved it! I nearly had a panic attack when I saw you rush out the door!”

“I was ju—“

“The good for nothing bloke barely let me get away! When I told him you were my only way home he told me not to worry about it that _he’d_  be taking me home tonight. Can you imagine how fucking uncomfortable that made me?”

Harry’s stomach dropped and his skin began crawling with guilt. Louis walked closer to him and gave his chest a few shoves. They didn’t hurt and they barely moved him but he backed up from him anyway.

“Why did you leave?” he shoved him further until Harry was fully against the door, “Why, Harry? You didn’t even give me a chance to decide where I wanted to spend my night. I wanted to spend it in your company,” Harry’s heart clenched at his words and nearly drowned in his own regret, "Why did you leave me?”

Harry’s voice was stuck in his throat and his thoughts were too muddled to sort through.

Louis was beyond frustrated. His body was shaking and his eyes were on the verge of tears. He fisted his hands into Harry’s shirt and quietly begged, “Answer me.”

“I was fucking jealous, Louis." Louis’ hold on his shirt slightly loosened and he stepped back to get a better look at Harry.

“Jealous?"

“I saw his hand on your hip and you didn’t seem to mind, I looked up again and it looked like he was leaning in to—“ he couldn’t finish the sentence and he clenched his hands at his sides as the image replayed in his head.

“What, to kiss me?” he asked in a disgusted tone.

Harry shifted his eyes away and sighed out shakily, “I think it’s obvious how I feel about you Louis, and I know you’re not responsible for my feelings, but I am, and I couldn’t just sit there and watch another man put his moves on you. I had to get out of there. I couldn’t breathe.”

“Harry I—“

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone in the bar. That was so, so shitty of me, and if you want to be angry with me I fully understand, but please don’t take it out on our duet, we’re so good togeth—“

Harry’s rant was cut off by the press of Louis’ finger against his lips.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, love,” he trailed his finger from Harry’s lips and thread them all through his curls, “I was equally as shitty to you tonight, and we’ll get to apologies in the morning, but for right now, I want you to kiss me.”

“You wha—“ he dragged Harry down by the back of his neck and into a deep kiss. Harry let out a moan of relief and nervously placed his hands on Louis’ hips. Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, and lifted up to his toes, causing Harry’s hands to slip further down his legs.

Harry wasted no time and picked Louis up by the back of his thighs. Louis wrapped his legs tightly around his waist and Harry pushed him up against the nearest wall. They managed to keep their lips attached through the entire maneuver, and fervently licked into each others mouths until they had to pull off for air. Harry trailed sloppy kisses down Louis’ neck, and sucked over the cursive words inked across his collar bones.

Harry brought his mouth back to Louis’ and pressed their bodies tightly together. He ran his hands up and down Louis’ deliciously, thick thighs, and moaned at the feeling of their cocks twitching against each other.

“Louis,” he panted out.

They pressed their lips harshly together and Louis slightly pulled off to drag Harry’s plump bottom lip between his teeth. Harry growled and shoved his tongue further into Louis’ mouth and tasted the tiniest hint of cool mint. He would tease Louis later about stealing his mouthwash _again_ , but for right now he was just going to enjoy the flavor.

Louis whimpered when Harry swiped his tongue across his and gently pushed their growing erections against each other, “Please,” he panted into Harry’s mouth and rocked down against him.

Harry tightened his grip on the back of Louis’ thighs and gave him a few sloppy kisses before pulling off, “Tell me what you want. Anything, its yours,”

Louis laced his hand through the curls at the back of Harry’s head, and pulled until Harry was face to face with him, “Want you,” Harry groaned and gave Louis a particularly hard grind, “Want _you_  to watch as I open myself up for you"

“Fuck,” he was definitely going to pass out, “Okay, baby.” he backed them up from against the wall, and gripped tightly onto Louis’ thighs as he walked them over to the bed.

He gently laid Louis against the clean white sheets and began to undress himself. He kicked off his boots and peeled his shirt up over his head. Louis leaned up and crawled towards the edge of the bed. He sat in front of Harry and pulled him between his spread legs. Harry managed to get the button of his jeans undone, and his zipper half-way down, but Louis put a stop to his movements.

He trailed one hand over the tip of Harry’s clothed cock, pushing against it with a minimal amount of pressure, and trailed the other up to Harry’s left nipple. Harry felt his lips part and eyes slightly water at the feather light touches. He threw his head back in a moan when Louis began to place tiny wet kisses against the length of his torso, and lightly nibbled at the skin beneath his bellybutton.

“So fucking fit,” he mumbled against Harry’s tummy and gave his nipple one last tweak, “Let’s get you out of these jeans, yeah?”

Harry obeyed frantically. He pushed down his jeans in such a hurry his boxers came down with them. He bent over and untangled the clothing from around his ankles, and tossed them in a direction he wasn’t even worried about.

Louis eyed Harry’s _massive_  length hungrily and, fuck, if that wasn’t the hottest thing in the world. Harry thread his fingers through the back of Louis’ hair and gripped his cock with the other, aiming it right in front of Louis’ mouth.

“Want a taste?”

Louis nodded his head and licked his lips, causing the slightest hint of wetness to brush against Harry’s tip. Harry tightened his hold in Louis hair and brought him forward to smear a drop of precome against Louis’ lips. Before Harry could let out a moan at the sight, Louis was wrapping his slick lips around the head of Harry’s cock. He suckled on the crown and teased his tongue into Harry’s slit, making Harry’s knees buckle.

“Feels good,” he grunted out. Louis took the words of encouragement, and sunk lower on his shaft, pushing his tongue against the thick vein. Harry’s hips stuttered forward and Louis faintly gagged around him.

“Fuck, I’m sorry!”

Louis pulled off with a slurp and wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes, “Do it, again.”

He opened his mouth obscenely and stuck his tongue out past his lips. Harry took hold of his cock and glided the tip up and down, slowly, against Louis’ tongue, and Louis gave him the fiercest bedroom eyes.

FUCK.

Louis closed his lips around Harry’s length again, and brought Harry further in by the back of his thighs. Harry timidly pulled halfway out and slowly slid back in.

Louis moaned out a _mhmm_  and nodded with Harry’s dick still in his mouth. He hollowed out his cheeks and placed his hands firmly at his sides giving Harry full control over the situation. Harry began to gently thrust back and forth in Louis’ mouth and whined at the sight of Louis’ watery eyes staring back at him.

“Fuck, you’re so pretty, baby,” Harry bit his lip hard and started to fuck into Louis’ mouth earnestly.

There was spit and precome collecting at the corner of Louis’ mouth, and a tear threatening to spill over at any second, but Louis was moaning around his cock, and the one trapped in his own briefs, was poking out of the elastic band, steadily dripping out the clear liquid.

They were both thoroughly enjoying this, but Harry wanted to come with his dick in Louis’ ass, and if he didn’t stop soon he was going to come like this. He gave Louis’ mouth a few more generous thrusts and completely pulled out.

Harry threw himself on top of Louis and drove his tongue in to his mouth, tasting himself and moaning at how filthy the moment wast. He pulled off Louis’ lips with a loud smack, “Was going to come if I kept that up.”

“S’alright,” Louis’ fucked out voice rasped out, “Lie down on your back.”

Harry rolled off of Louis and slid up on the bed to lay back. He tucked a couple of pillows under his head, while Louis scampered off to the bedside table to retrieve a condom, and a bottle of lube.

He climbed up on the bed, dropping the the objects by Harry’s hip, and pressed a soft kiss to Harry’s lips. They looked at each other like nothing else in that moment mattered, and Harry felt his heart surge at the love he had for the beautiful man on top of him.

“You’re so beautiful.” Harry panted out and cupped Louis’ face with his hand. He ran his thumb against Louis’ slightly swollen lips and tucked a few locks of hair behind his ear.

Louis blushed a light shade of pink and turned his face to kiss his palm, “I think you’re beautiful, too. Gorgeous even,” he quickly bent down and gave Harry’s lips a peck, and sat up straight, straddling his hips, “You want to make me feel good, Harry?”

“Yes, of course.” was that even a question?

“You’ll do anything I say?”

Harry’s cock grew impossibly harder at Louis taking charge, and he could barely gather his thoughts enough to create a complete sentence, “I—jesus, Lou—yes, yes anything. Fuck.”

Louis smirked grabbing the bottle of lube. He lifted a leg over Harry and turned to straddle over him back wards. Harry had the perfect view of Louis’ smooth back, curving in at the waist, and curving back out at his hips. His skin was beautifully sun kissed, despite spending most of his time indoors, and the delicious curve of his ass was hovering right above Harry’s cock.

He could not wait to get inside.

Harry gave himself a few tugs as Louis drizzled the lube over his fingers. He whined when Louis smacked his hand away and told him, “Only want your hands on me,” he arched his back and placed one hand on the mattress to balance himself, “Hold me open. Want you to see how ready I am for you.”

Jesus Christ he was dirty in bed.

Harry placed his hands on the back of his thighs and slid them upwards slowly until he reached the plumpest parts of Louis’ cheeks. They moaned in harmony as Harry allowed himself a few generous gropes, and a light smack to each just to watch them jiggle.

He took his hands back to Louis’ cheeks, and spread them open, salivating at his rosy pink hole. Louis teased his middle finger around the skin, getting it nice and slick before pushing the tip of his finger in. Louis let out an airy moan and Harry had to force himself not to come completely untouched at the sight.

Louis took deep breaths in and out and began to work his finger deeper inside himself. Harry rubbed circles into Louis’ skin with his thumbs and curled his toes in order not to rub up against Louis.

Before long Louis was squeezing in a second finger beside his first and dropped down to his elbow making the arch in his back deepen, “Harry,“ he breathed out in a high voice Harry had never heard him use, “need your—fuck—need your mouth.”

Harry sat up at record speed and peppered sloppy kisses against Louis cheeks. He watched Louis scissor himself open and pulled his mouth off in a state of awe.

“Just for you,” Louis lifted himself up to look back at Harry, “No one else can have me this way. Just you.”

Harry felt those damn butterflies flare up in his stomach, and he dove tongue first into Louis’ ass, licking a stripe up over his hole. He spread Louis’ cheeks and licked around his fingers, savoring each and every moan falling from Louis’ mouth, “Mine,” he spoke into the skin, “All mine, baby.”

He dipped his tongue in against Louis’ fingers and relished in the feeling of Louis clenching around it. Harry backed off as Louis pushed in a third finger and went to suck at his perineum. Louis pushed back against Harry’s mouth and scissored his three fingers inside himself.

“H-harry, I’m ready.”

In one swift movement, Harry managed to slip out from underneath Louis, and lay him gently against his back.

He was not wasting time.

Harry ripped open the condom, slid it across his length, and drizzled a generous amount of lube onto his cock. He crawled forward and hovered over Louis.

It should’ve been weird the way they were staring at each other, but it wasn’t, it was calming and erotic all at the same time. Harry pressed a kiss to Louis’ lips and went to line up at his entrance.

Harry rubbed the tip of his cock against Louis’ hole and was about to push in when—

“Wait, Harry,” Harry halted all movements and backed off him completely.

“You okay? Did I hurt you?”

“I’m amazing, and no you didn’t hurt me. I know you wouldn’t, just—“ he struggled to find the words, “You’re the first I’ve had in over a year, since, you know... Just take it slow at first and—“

“Of course, Louis.”

Louis pulled him in by the back of his neck and murmured filthily into his ear, “And when I say I’m ready, I want you to fuck me hard. Want to feel you ‘till next week.”

Harry nodded eagerly as Louis laid back down against the sheets. Harry pulled a pillow from under his head and tucked it under his hips, making sure he was comfortable.

Harry moved forward and teased his cock around Louis’ hole making Louis chew on his bottom lip, and mewl under his breath. He bent down on top of Louis, and captured his lips in a heated kiss, to distract him from pushing the head of his cock, through his hole.

They both panted into each others mouths as Louis’ _tight_  heat enveloped Harry’s tip.

“Ahh, baby. Feels so fucking good.”

“Deeper. P-please”

Harry slowly inched forward and paused each time Louis hissed. Louis wrapped his legs behind Harry’s back and drew him fully into his ass.

“You’re so big, fuck.”

Louis clenched hard around him and Harry couldn’t even let the compliment get to his head. He was too busy trying not to come before they even started.

“Move. Just a little bit.”

Harry followed Louis’ directions and pulled out a quarter of the way, and gently slid back in. He repeated that rhythm until he worked his way up to pulling half way out and thrusting back in. Louis was in a state of bliss with his eyes fluttered closed, his mouth panting out quiet breaths, and his hands lightly scratching at Harry’s back.

Harry wanted to please him this well forever.

“Harry, I’m ready, fuck me!”

Harry paused his movements to catch his breath, “Gonna make you feel so good.”

He thrust into Louis hard and at a steady pace. He wasn’t going to last much longer and needed to find Louis’ prostate immediately. Harry pulled back, continuing his thrusts, and lifted Louis left leg over his shoulder. He angled around his hips until finally he punched out a moan from Louis, and continued to pound relentlessly into the same spot.

“Don’t stop, Harry, right there!”

Harry sped up his thrust and moved his face to suck a dark bruise into Louis’ neck. Louis was clenching around him every other thrust and was now tugging at Harry’s hair. Harry pulled off of his neck and pressed his thumb into the darkening patch.

“Not gonna last much longer.” Harry whined.

“M’close too. Fuck.”

Harry put his hand to Louis’ mouth and instructed that he lick.

He trailed his saliva covered hand down to Louis cock and tugged in time with his thrusts. Louis was breathless and Harry was groaning and the stimulation around his cock.

“Want you to come first, baby, can you do that?”

Louis opened his glassy eyes and eagerly nodded his head. Harry thrust in deeper allowing Louis to grind his prostate down against the tip of his cock. He sped up the tugs on Louis’ cock and flicked his thumb over the slit every other stroke.

“Come for me, Louis. Just for me. My beautiful boy, all mine.” and with that Louis clenched down hard around Harry and shot streaks of come between the two of them. Harry thrust into him fast and hard for just a few seconds longer, and buried himself deep in Louis’ ass as he came.

“So good, Harry. Best I ever had, fuck.” Louis panted out as Harry got out his final thrusts.

“Yeah? Fucked you so good, didn’t I, baby.”

“Yes, love, amazing.” he lifted his head and opened his mouth against Harry’s.

They lazily made out for a few minutes until Harry’s cock fully softened inside of Louis. He gently pulled out and tied the condom in a knot.

“Be right back,” he walked on shaky legs over to the bathroom to toss the condom and retrieve a washcloth.

He turned on the water, wet a corner, and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His eyes were glossed over, his curls were a wild mess, and he had a blush from his cheeks all the way down to his chest.

Fuck, he loved what Louis did to him.

He shut off the water and exited the bathroom. Louis was still laid out on his back with his eyes closed and a sleepy smile on his face. Harry dragged the washcloth across both of their come-covered bodies and tossed it over his shoulder.

He crawled into bed and brought the sheets up over them. Louis cuddled up to Harry’s chest and tossed a thigh between his legs. Harry let one hand brush gently through Louis hair and the other caressed up and down his naked back.

Louis lifted his head and placed a too sweet, and too loving, kiss to Harry’s lips. He paused and stared at Harry’s face for too long to be considered normal. Harry was about to ask if everything was alright, but was cut off by Louis’ soft lips once again.

“Goodnight, Harry.” he laid his head on Harry’s chest and curled in closer.

“Night, baby.” the _love you_  went unsaid. The words almost slipped from his lips but caught himself just in time to not, possibly, ruin the moment.

Louis let sleep take him over and Harry continued his soft brushes in Louis’ hair and caresses on his back. He sat there like that until Louis’ breathing evened out and his muscles relaxed against him.

Harry leaned his head down and pressed a kiss to the top of Louis’ head.

“You have no idea how much I love you.” he whispered into Louis’ hair, and gave his head one last peck before closing his eyes and awaited sleep.

It felt otherworldly to say those words out loud, and he hoped that one day he’d be able to say them to Louis without him being asleep.

\--


	10. Chapter 10

“Babe, you need to come in earlier on the chorus, and rough it up a little.”

They were back in the studio recording all new material for their demo as a duet. The demo consisted of only four songs, the first being their most impactful song, voices bouncing off of each other, and coming back to blend seamlessly around the chorus and rhythmic guitar. The second, was more of a nostalgic pop song that featured a couple of vocal runs by Harry. He was very proud of how far he’s come vocally, and Louis made sure to let that shine through on this track. The third was the heart breaking ballad about Louis’ past life they had recorded a month prior. They both decided it was magic on it’s own and should be left how they had it.

The fourth and final song had not been decided on yet. Harry wanted to end it on another nostalgic tune to keep to their brand, but Louis wanted to end it with a bang to show off their musical and vocal abilities. They didn’t normally butt heads, but the past few days have been tension filled.

The morning after the night they fucked, Harry woke up to a note written by Louis,

_Have a shift at the studio. Didn’t want to wake you. -Louis xxx_

Harry figured they were fine and that maybe his feelings were being reciprocated, but as soon as Louis got home later that day, things were….off.

Louis walked into the kitchen where Harry was and totally avoided all contact. Harry thought he might have been feeling bashful, so he crowded Louis’ space and pushed him back against the counter. He brought his hands to Louis face and gave him a huge grin when their eyes met. He leaned forward to press a kiss to Louis’ lips, only to be met with the scruff against his cheek.

Louis looked up to him apologetically and pushed passed Harry and into his room with the weak excuse of _had a long day_

Harry knew not to bother him but he also knew Louis was avoiding the conversation they so needed to have.

Each day that passed only got worse. The day after that Harry tried to corner Louis again only to be turned down because Louis was  _too tired_. Another day after that, Harry attempted to create any kind of conversation with Louis, but was quickly shut down with vague and uninterested answers.

Harry could take a hint.

Now nearly a week later, they still haven’t breached the topic, and the growing tension was starting to get between them in the studio.

Harry looked at Louis for a long minute through the recording booth not caring how irritated his stare looked.

Louis met his stare, with a raised eyebrow, refusing to break first.

Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes, “I need a break,” he tugged off his headphones and laid them on the stand.

He pushed through the door of the recording booth, past Louis, and out the door of the room. He paced up and down the hallway huffing out his frustrations. He ran his hands through his unruly curls and sank down against a wall.

Harry sat there, for what felt like hours, just wondering what went wrong between them. One minute they were kissing bruises into each others skin, and the next, they were walking on egg shells around each other.

What the fuck happened, and why?

Harry pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time. He’d only been sitting here for six minutes. He knew they still had a whole hour to burn through, but Harry figured he probably shouldn’t waste anymore time dwelling on this situation.

He picked himself up off the ground and walked in the direction of the door. When he pushed through the entrance of the studio door, he was met with a nervous looking Louis hunched over, with his elbows to his knees, on the couch.

Louis looked up with his bottom lip pinched between his teeth. When he saw Harry fully close the door he pat the cushion to his right. Harry looked at him curiously but followed his invitation anyway.

Harry sat in the corner of the sofa, and crossed his arms over his chest, still clearly not in the best mood.

“I think we should talk about last weekend.”

Harry turned and raised a brow at Louis, “You think?”

“Yeah,” he crossed and uncrossed his legs, eventually deciding to just sit crisscross on the cushion, “I think us ignoring it is affecting our dynamic.”

“No shit?” Harry answered sarcastic as ever.

“Oh come off it, Harry.”

“No, Louis.” he sat up straighter and tried to keep his voice even, “you’re a cryptic little shit, you know that?”

Louis tensed and leaned back further away from Harry. It looked like he might’ve had something to say but Harry wasn’t finished yet.

“In the beginning you said that we should respect personal space, but that was all shot to hell, whenever you need a way to get me to do something. You said it wouldn’t be fair to me if we were to be in a relationship because we’d never see each other—Louis we’re practically attached at the hip! And you surely don’t mind crawling in my lap and teasing me until I’m all worked up.”

A thick cloud of unease filled the room. Harry was letting out his frustrations and Louis had curled in on himself. Harry felt incredibly guilty and knew he would be begging at Louis’ feet later, but he needed to get this all out on the table.

“Sometimes i’ll catch you staring at me with the same look I give you, and it feels like you might—“ _love me back_ , “—you might actually feel something for me, but not even a second later you’ll excuse yourself completely, and I won’t hear from you for hours,” Louis rolled his eyes and scrubbed a hand down his face, and that seemed to set Harry off even more, “Don’t just brush it off like that, Lou! You’ve got to see how hot and cold you are with me.”

Louis looked directly at him and Harry braced himself for his next blow.

“I made it clear from the beginning how I feel about you. There’s never been any mind games on my half. I let you know how jealous I was seeing you with another man at the bar that night and was ready to apologize for over stepping my boundaries as a friend, or coworker, or roommate—whatever we are—but then you begged me to fuck you, told me no one else gets to have you that way. I got you to come just by saying you were mine, and then a week later we’ve hardly spoken? Tell me what that’s about Louis, because I’d like—“

“I heard you that night.” Louis quietly interrupted.

“You what?”

“I heard what you said before you fell asleep that night, and it scared the bloody hell out of me.” Louis raised his voice.

Harry’s mouth fell open yet no words spilled out. His heart fell into his stomach and ice coursed through his veins. That was not the way Harry intended for Louis to find out how he truly felt about him. He wished it could’ve been more romantic like, writing him a song, or spelling it out in rose petals across the sheets of a bed, on some private island. But not in a post sex haze, where their bodies we’re still sticky from sweat and other bodily fluids.

“I think we should put this project on hold for a while, and I think I should get out of the apartment for a few days—“

“Louis—I’m sorry—please don’t take it out on our music. You can stay, and I can leave, and come back when you’re ready, please.”

Louis sighed and moved off the couch to stand in front of him, “I don’t want to hash this out when we’ve both bottled up emotions over the past few days, and I think we need some time to miss each other.”

Harry sat there speechless as Louis began to pack up his things. He wanted to badly to reach out and stop Louis from leaving, but he was glued to his seat and couldn’t get his brain to process one convincing reason why Louis should stay.

“Here.” Louis tossed him a small usb stick labeled _H &L_, “That’s the three we’ve completed. In case you want to do anything with them.”

Harry rubbed his thumb against their initials. Even the letters looked good next to each other.

“I’ll see you.”

Harry looked up and caught a glimpse of Louis retreating out the door and felt like he missed him already.

—

Harry sat in the same spot on the couch for the next hour. A constant reel of Louis leaving playing in his head. He would’ve been out of here by now if Louis didn’t take all of the energy he had with him.

_knock knock_

A tall, bottle blonde, man, with round plastic frames on his face pushed through the door. Harry recognized him. He was one of the volunteer producers that he was friendly with, but couldn’t for the life of him, think of his name.

“Hey, man. Come in I was just leaving.” Harry stood and ruffled a hand through his hair.

“Everything okay?”

No.

“Yeah, yeah. Was just—I don’t know—got a lot of ideas to sort through in my head.”

Blondie set his bags in front of the mixing table and turned to face Harry, “Haven’t seen you in a minute, man. Been working on some stuff?”

“Yes, actually. I’m sorta in a band now—well—a two piece, duet, kind of gig.”

“Sounds exciting,” he searched around for a rolling chair and sat back in the one nearest to him, “Let’s hear it.”

“Hear wha—“ Harry followed the mans eyes to the usb clenched in his hand, “Oh. Uh, yeah sure, just a sec.”

Harry went over to his bag and pulled out his laptop. As he walked closer to the man, he opened up his music software, and imported the songs into the computer.

“There’s going to be four songs, but we’ve only got three down so far.” Harry clicked on the first track and pressed play.

The music through the speakers of his laptop didn’t do the song any justice. The booming baseline wasn’t rocking the walls of the building, the guitar riffs and rhythms weren’t as crisp, and it just sounded like a cheap version of the song.

Harry noticed these things, but the man in front of him didn’t seem bothered. In fact, if his eyebrows raised in surprise were anything to go by, Harry would say he was impressed.

“It sounds really great when it’s playing through the studio speakers. It’s truly an experience,” Harry bragged. He let the song play for a few more seconds before skipping to the next, “This one is kind of the direction we want to go in with the nostalgic feel.”

The man bobbed his head along to the relaxed beat and looked up at Harry, “Your voices sound sick together.”

Harry felt the compliment go right to his stomach and let the fuzzy feeling fizzle there for a second. It always felt amazing being validated on how well the two of them sounded together.

“This next one is a ballad. Louis is so brilliant on the lyricism here.”

He skipped to the third and final song. Louis’ raspy, vulnerable voice opened the song, and Harry’s followed encouragingly behind. The soft piano tinkled in and the violins tied the ballad together.

“Wow,” the man nodded his head and rocked slowly back and forth to the melody, “Sounds like the ex was a real piece of work.”

Harry chuckled agreeably and shrugged his shoulders, “You don’t even know the half of it.”

He let the song fully play out until the room was completely silent again. He removed the usb, tucked it safely in his pocket, and moved to pack away his laptop, and his other belongings.

“I’m really impressed, Harry."

“Thank you, that means a lot. We’ve been working together for a few months, and hopefully soon we’ll be able to move on from open mic nights, to some larger venus to try these songs out on a crowd, that’s actually there for music, and not just the bar.”

He didn’t dare mention the delicate state their band was in.

“That’s great! When’s your next show?”

Harry mentally checked the calendar in his head making sure not to miss anything important, “If today is Monday we don’t have anything scheduled until Saturday evening.” Harry wondered if they would end up canceling it due to the circumstances or just play like nothing ever happened.

“Awesome, mind if a couple buddy’s and I come and check it out?”

“No, yeah, that’d be great actually, to have some support.”

The man pulled out his wallet and slipped out a white card scribbling something across the back, “Here,” he handed Harry the card, “My numbers on the back. Text me the address and time and we’ll definitely be there.”

Harry took a look at the number on the back and flipped the card over.

_Niall J. Horan_  
_Music Producer_  
_1750 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA, 90028_

Oh yeah, _Niall_. How could Harry forget a name like that?

“For sure! I’ll see you around, Niall.” he offered out a hand to shake and squeezed with enough firmness to be deemed business appropriate.

Harry gathered his things and walked out of the studio with a wave. He didn’t feel as miserable as he did earlier that day. He was actually kind of looking forward to the weekend, whether he knew what was going to happen between him and Louis, or not.

He pushed out of the door of the building and started to head for the Jeep—

Fuck.

Harry got so used to Louis’ Jeep being a reliable form of transportation. He didn’t even consider that Louis would take that with him.

He sighed and turned his head up to the sun, letting the rays warm his face against the chilly wind. He tightened his guitar case over his shoulder, tossed his laptop bag over the other, and began his trek home.

—

Harry walked into his apartment and instantly missed the warmth Louis Tomlinson took with him when he left. There were still traces of him in the apartment. A stray t-shirt strewn across their floor, his small collection of shoes still lined up right along Harry’s, his scent still clung to Harry’s sheets.

Harry curled up in the middle of his bed and wrapped the sheets tightly around him. He laid his head on the pillow that Louis usually used and inhaled the soft rosy scent he left everywhere he went.

Harry closed his eyes an considered each side of the situation. He personally just wanted to Louis to be clear with him for once.

Yeah, Harry enjoyed how comfortable they were with each other in the physical sense, but he also wished Louis was as comfortable with the emotional.

That being said, he fully understands how hearing Harry declare his love for him, could slightly freak him out. He was in love with a master manipulator a little under a year ago, and he was still healing from the emotional damage, whether he admitted to it or not.

Harry realized he wasn’t helping when he was demanding that Louis explain himself to him instead of giving Louis the opportunity to do it on his own time. He also brought up the most intimate details of their night together and used them as a weapon against Louis.

Louis poured an incredible amount of trust in Harry when he told him only he gets to have him that way. He trusted him to take care of him, and more than likely trusted that he wouldn’t throw it back in his face later.

Harry even called him a cryptic little shit.

Fuck.

Harry was possibly the biggest asshole in all of Los Angeles right now. If the roles were switched, Harry wouldn’t forgive the person that put him through all of that bull shit, and knowing Louis, it was probably going to be nearly impossible to receive his forgiveness.

Harry was undeserving, but he owed it to Louis. He needed to think of the best way to say, I-know-I’m-a-jerk-and-you-probably-hate-me-but-I’ll-apologize-for-the-rest-of-my-life-if-it-means-you’ll-forgive-me, and, I’m-so-sorry-I-love-you-more-than-life-itself-and-I’d-give-it-all-up-for-you.

Harry rolled over on his back, taking the pillow, and hugging it tightly against his chest. He was going to let Louis have his space, and he was going to utilize that time coming up with the perfect way to apologize.

Starting now.

—


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday dragged by, and Harry was fully feeling the affects of Louis missing in action.

He woke up every morning expecting to be met with the sight of Louis brewing tea in their kitchen, in nothing but underwear, and one of Harry’s shirts slipping off his small frame, only to be slapped with the harsh reality that he was alone, and would be until further notice.

He came up with a few ways to show Louis how deeply sorry he was. One involved an expensive bottle of wine, another involved pen and paper, and the other involved his musical gifts and talents. He planned to put them all in motion but needed to get in contact with Louis to be able to meet him in person.

He didn’t want to bother him before he was ready, but the two of them were on a slight time-crunch.

Harry hadn’t been in touch with Niall yet, seeing as he still didn’t know whether or not they were still performing.

He hoped they were. Nothing in the world felt better than performing, and adding Louis into the mix, was Harry’s ideal nirvana.

Harry decided he would give it ’til sundown before he attempted to contact Louis. He just hoped he didn’t drive himself up the wall counting down the hours until then.

—

He couldn’t wait.

It was nearing 5 pm and he decided that was as close to sundown as he could get. He’s called Louis three times by now but has yet to receive an answer.

At least he isn’t sending him straight to voicemail.

“You’ve reached Louis Tomlinson,” ugh. “Please leave your name, and number, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

Harry ended the call before the recording could beep.

Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should give Louis as much space as possible. It’s just, as the days went on, he felt worse and worse about his shitty, inconsiderate, fit of rage, and just wanted Louis to know how terribly sorry he was.

Yeah. He needs to show Louis and he can’t just sit back and do nothing about their situation.

This may be his dumbest idea yet but he had to give it a try.

He unlocked his phone and dialed Louis’ number one last time. It rang, and rang, and rang, until the unsurprising sound of Louis’ voicemail greeting, rang through his ears. He decided this time he would leave a message.

_Beep_

“Hey, Lou. I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from, and I have no right trying to contact you at all, but, I just need to see you. I need to apologize, Louis. I owe that to you,” he paused and collected himself before he left a twenty minute message, “I know this is a lot to ask of you, but if you could meet me at, [453 Spring St](http://lastbookstorela.com/#home) at 7 pm, tonight, it would mean the world to me, and I believe it’ll be worth your time,” Harry’s nerves began to buzz around in his stomach as he thought about what he had planned for the night, “I miss you so much, baby. Just—just please, if you’re able to, please come out tonight. Hope I'll see you…..Bye, Lou.”

Harry pulled the phone from his ear and tapped the end button. He stared at the screen until it went black and let his thoughts fuzz over for just a minute. He hoped everything he’s been planning over the past three days pays off. Even if Louis doesn’t end up wanting to be with him, or in the same band as him, he just wanted Louis’ forgiveness and happiness.

Harry sighed and snapped himself out of his thoughts. He decided that he should shower, and start to get ready for the evening ahead. He stripped off in his living room and made his way towards the bathroom.

God. He really hoped this worked. If not, he wasn’t above getting down on both knees and begging.

\--


	12. Chapter 12

It was 7:01 pm and Harry was stalling.

He already set up his old mic on it’s stand, tuned his guitar, set it against his stool, and gave himself ore than a few once-overs in the reflection of his phone. He actually spent time on his look today, dressed in a casual suit, with a powder blue button up only half way buttoned. He even added necessary product to his hair to turn his waves into curls. He wanted to make himself as presentable as possible if Louis decided to show up.

He checked the time on his phone and it showed only a minute had gone by. Harry would be the first to preform in a long lineup of poets. He was the only musician performing, but it didn’t matter, this was the only place that would let him book a show on such short notice, and he was only doing this for one person anyway.

Harry leaned his head against the bookshelf he was hiding behind and just let himself breathe.

“Styles?”

He lifted his head to see it was the bookstore’s manager, “Yes?”

“We’re ready to go if you are. Got a lot of performances to get through and we don’t want to get too behind.”

Harry took one last peek through the books on the shelves to see if Louis would push through the door. He didn’t.

“Alright, I’ll be out in a minute.” the man nodded his head and made his way back toward wherever he came from

Harry took one last inhale of the rich scent of used books surrounding him, and shook his limbs in preparation. He made his way toward the tiny set up and gave a nod to the manager to indicate the show could start.

“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,” the man spoke into Harry’s mic, “Thank you for choosing to spend your evening with us! Tonight’s first performer goes by the name of Harry Styles,” Harry scanned the crowd. Still no Louis, “Please help me welcome him to the stage!”

There were a few hoots and whistles, along with polite clapping, as Harry walked the short distance to his set up. He gave the crowd a small wave, picked up his guitar, slung it over his shoulder, and took his seat on the stool.

“Hello,” he spoke gently into the mic, “I’m Harry, and I’ll be the only musician tonight,” he dragged his words out, more syrupy that usual, doing everything he could just to buy more time. He gave his guitar a few strums and looked back at the crowd, “I only have one song for you this eve—“ the distinct sound of a bell ringing as a door opened and closed rang to his side.

Louis.

Harry’s mouth was still ajar as he took in the sight of Louis’ slightly flushed cheeks and windswept hair.

He came.

He actually fucking came, and he was so heartbreakingly beautiful.

“Um—“ Harry cleared his throat as he realized he’d been staring so long people were beginning to seek out what he had his eyes on, “I only have one song for you this evening, and I know you’re all here for the poetry, but just think of it as the cheesiest love poem with some rhythm to it,” he locked eyes with Louis again and felt his heart jump in his chest, “I didn’t have a lot of time to write this, so go easy on me"

He tapped his foot counting off the beat for himself and began to strum out a slow simple melody. He leaned forward into the mic and didn’t remove his eyes from Louis' once.

_Humble love, where are you tonight_  
_Humble love, baby lets make this right_

_I know you're still hurting, I see it when you speak_  
_Hours of silence, can't turn the other cheek_  
_mercy, mercy, mercy, bestow it upon me_  
_I know I'm undeserving, babe hear my last plea_

_Humble love, where are you tonight_  
_Humble love, baby lets make this right_

_I ache for you baby, want to feel your sweet touch_  
_emerald sea eyes, how I miss them so much_  
_always, always, always, I would fight for you always_  
_wanna be by your side, in this never ending love haze_

_Humble love, where are you tonight_  
_Humble love, baby lets make this right_

 

Harry kept up his strumming and began to show off a little bit of his guitar skills. Louis’ eyes were rimmed with tears and his thumbs fiddled with the ends of his sweater nervously. A few people in the crowd followed Harry’s intense stare and raised their eyebrows at Louis’ jittery state.

Louis apparently wasn’t having it when he bit his lip and swiftly moved toward the exit. Harry cut his playing short and slung his guitar off his shoulder, placing it quickly on the ground. He ran off the stage and through the crowd to catch up to a hurriedly retreating Louis.

Harry burst through the door of the exit and saw Louis briskly walking away to his left.

“Lou!” Harry ran towards him and hardly avoided barreling into other pedestrians, “Louis wait!”

Louis continued his trek down the sidewalk completely ignoring him. Harry sped up as Louis turned the corner and nearly toppled over him when he crashed into his backside.

“Shit, Lou I’m so sorry, you okay?” he frantically ran his hands over Louis arms and back and turned his body to face him.

“Get the fuck off me,” he swatted Harry’s soothing hands away, “What was that in there, huh? Do you get off to publicly humiliating me?”

“No, Lou—“

“Enough Harry! It’s bad enough I was embarrassed in there I don’t need this from you right now.” he turned to assumedly storm off but Harry caught his wrist and met his angered look with pleading eyes.

“Please,” he breathed out quietly, “I’m sorry I keep fucking up, but please, just give me a chance to properly apologize.” he slid his hand down until their fingers slowly laced together, “I’ll do anything, Lou. If you never want to hear from me after tonight, so be it, but please, I’m begging for a chance. I just want to get a few things off my chest and I want you to know how deeply sorry I am.”

Louis’ unoccupied hand was still fiddling with the sleeve of his sweater and he was chewing roughly at his lip in consideration. He sighed and took his eyes off Harry’s. He stared at the ground for a minute and Harry continuously rubbed soothing circles onto the side of his hand.

“Where did you have in mind?” he mumbled out.

“I, um, was just thinking we could share a bottle of wine on my building’s roof. You know, just somewhere quiet, where we can air it all out.”

Louis looked back at him for a long minute. Harry matched his stare and gave their hands a slight squeeze. Louis gently withdrew his hand and took a step back, “I’m parked just down the road. Get your things and I’ll wait.”

Harry couldn’t help his sigh of relief and the briefest of tight hugs around Louis’ waist, “Thank you, Louis,” he stepped back and began jogging toward the building, “I’ll be two minutes tops I swear!”

Louis didn’t respond and headed in the direction of his Jeep.

Thank fuck.

Harry wished on all of his lucky stars that he wouldn’t screw this up again.

—

They pulled into their usual parking spot and Louis cut the ignition.

“Do you want to come in? Or just meet me on the roof?”

“I’ll meet you up there.” Louis unfastened his seat belt and jumped out of the car.

Harry quickly grabbed his things and headed in the direction of his building. He heard the honk of the Jeep’s alarm and saw Louis punch in the roof access code into the elevator. As soon as the doors opened and shut Louis in behind them, Harry sprinted down the walkway of the parking garage, to the door of his apartment.

He swung the door open and tossed his belongings carefully onto the couch. He removed his suit jacket and changed his suit pants into a tight pair of black jeans. He pulled the bottle of wine out from his cabinet and took two glasses with him. He made the quick decision of bringing a blanket from the living room out with him, knowing how easily Louis gets cold.

He locked the door behind him, trotted over to the elevator, and punched in the same roof access code. The doors slid open and he tapped his foot impatiently as this seemed to be the longest elevator ride in history.

Harry walked through the doors calmly as they pinged open. The roof was unoccupied other than him and Louis, who was lounging on an outdoor chaise. Harry walked to him and set the wine and the glasses down on the ground.

“Brought you a blanket.”

Louis snapped out of his blank trance and offered a quiet  _thanks_.

Harry spread it out on top of him and stepped back to sit in the chaise beside him. He reached for the bottle of Merlot and pushed and pulled at the cork with his thumbs until it popped open.

He poured himself a hefty glass, and decided to give Louis only half of his ridiculous amount. He set the bottle down and handed Louis his glass.

“Thanks.” he swirled the alcohol around and sipped the juices slowly.

Harry did the complete opposite. He tipped the glass back and swallowed down a few gulps. Wine experts everywhere would probably deem him sinner in their world, but he couldn’t give less of a fuck. He let the berry flavors wash over his tastebuds and let the heat of the drink settle in the back of his throat, and down to his stomach.

He poured a few more ounces of the liquid into his glass as the silence around them began to turn awkward.

“So…” he sipped at the edge of his glass, “How have you been.”

Louis took his own gulp of the wine and winced as it went down, “I’ve been better.”

Harry accepted his short answer not wanting to push him further than that, “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Louis nodded his head and continued to sip on his drink.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to reach out to you,” he took one last drink from his glass and set it down on the ground, “I acted like such a prick, demanding that you explain yourself to me, bringing up a very intimate moment between us, and using it against you,”

Louis raised his eyebrows in agreement and swirled his glass around between his fingers.

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain yourself on your own, and I’m sorry I pushed and pushed to the point of you leaving,” Louis paused his swirling motions and met Harry’s eyes, “I can be a selfish person, but I realize how wrong that is, and just because I have certain feelings for you, doesn’t mean I get to feel like I have a claim over you,” he grabbed his glass of wine and took another long sip, “I know you don’t feel the same, and you’ve made it very clear from the start, so I won’t continue making you uncomfortable with love declorations, or affectionate touching, whatever. I just want us to be able to keep making music cohesively, and more than anything, I just want you to be happy.”

Louis bit his lip and spun the stem of the glass between his fingers. The silence between them grew once again. Harry set down his glass and twisted at the rings on his fingers.

“I’ll do anything, Lou.” he kept his head down and stared at the ground beneath him. He wished it would just open up and swallow him whole.

“Harry,” he looked up and was gently pushed back against the back of the chair. Louis placed himself on Harry’s lap and snuggled under the blanket now covering the both of them.

“Louis, what are you do—“

“You shouldn’t assume I don’t feel the same,” he whispered into the side of Harry’s neck. He lifted his head and wrapped his arms around Harry’s shoulders, “I do like you Harry.”

Harry let one hand grab on to the back of Louis’ leg and let the other caress circles underneath the hem of Louis’ shirt.

“You don’t have to let me down easy, Lou—“

“Can I finish?” Harry zipped his mouth shut and continued the soft movements of his fingers, “That day in the studio I wanted to tell you I was willing to give us a shot, and that I avoided you the whole week after we slept together, because I was at war with myself, and I didn’t want you to get caught in the middle of that.”

Harry felt guilty all over again and had another apology on the tip of his tongue, but Louis continued his speech.

“There’s no way you could have known without me telling you, and there was probably a better way to handle that on my part, so I apologize for that. I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark for so long and I can understand why your outburst came about,” he brought a hand to the back of Harry’s neck and rubbed his fingertips through his springy curls there, “You scare me, Harry. I feel like we could last and you’d be nothing but wonderful to me, but I had that once, and it just fucked me up—“

“Louis, I’d never.”

“I know, I know, and that’s the scary part,” he sighed and looked around for the right words to say, "All I know is a shitty relationship, I’ve never had someone care for me so much, like _genuinely_  care, and I just don’t want that to go away.”

Harry slid both arms around Louis’ waist and brought him tightly into his chest, “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me, baby. You mean so much to me and I wouldn’t ever want you to second guess that.”

Harry rocked them gently and lets his hands wander up and down the slopes of Louis’ sides. He felt chills cover Louis’ body as a cool breeze swept over them.

“I really liked your song tonight.” Louis whispered totally changing the subject.

Harry let him, “Yeah? It was written for you.”

Louis giggled into Harry’s neck and pulled back to face him, “Yeah. Think we should use it as our fourth song. Maybe switch it up and make it more poppy”

“Wha—really? You want to keep making music with me?!” Harry asked excitedly

“Of course, you giant knob, we’re a duet. We stick together.” they both let their smiles take over their faces slowly, and Harry tried his hardest not to jump for joy.

“Thank you so much, Louis,” he squeezed gently at Louis’ hips and rubbed his thumbs against his hipbones, “I won’t let you down again. I promise”

“You never did, love,” he brought his hands to Harry’s face and pressed his thumbs into Harry’s dimples, “You’re quite the looker. Have I ever told you that?”

Harry blushed and his dimples dug deeper into his cheeks, “Am I forgiven?”

“You’re forgiven.” Louis nodded and Harry went in for another tight embrace.

They stayed there wrapped up in each other, on the lonely roof, in the middle of the night, and Harry could not be more grateful at how things turned out.

“Harry,” he pulled back and looked up at Louis, “I kinda want to give us a go as well.”

Harry’s heart fluttered and he couldn’t stop the cheesy smile from spreading across his face, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” he placed a feather-light kiss to Harry’s lips, “I wanna be yours so badly.”

And suddenly, the mood shifted from light-hearted, to something more seductive.

“Yeah?” Harry rasped out and let his hands travel up Louis’ sides underneath his shirt. Louis nodded his head and placed a long peck to Harry’s lips, “How badly, baby?”

Louis lightly whimpered and leaned back to look at Harry, “Want everyone in your building to know who I belong to. Can we do that, Harry? Please.”

He dragged the tip of his finger across Harry’s nipple and pushed back into his crotch subtly.

Harry was a goner.

“Fuck,” Harry moaned under his breath, “Want you to go inside, and wait on our bed. Naked. No touching and lay flat on your back,” Louis nodded frantically and began to ease himself off of Harry’s lap, “I’ll take all of this inside and I’ll see you in a few.”

He laid a smack to Louis’ retreating bum and let out a long, happy sigh.

Harry was so unbelievably fortunate, and he was going to show Louis just how much he appreciated him.

—

Harry took his time bringing in everything from the roof. He folded the blanket back on the couch, placed the bottle of Merlot back in his cabinet, and ever so slowly washed and dried the wine glasses.

He wanted nothing more than to run in the room and jump Louis’ bones, but another part of him wanted to drag this out, and make it as long, and enjoyable, as possible, for the both of them.

Harry dried his hands and folded the rag back onto the counter. He lightly palmed at his hardening cock in anticipation for what was about to happen. He walked over to the bedroom door and pushed it open carefully.

_Fuck._

Louis was stripped completely, crossing and uncrossing his legs, keeping his hands firmly by his side, and his cock was already lying hard against his tummy. Harry tried to keep his face impartial, but could not help the low growl that escaped the back of his throat.

“Harry-“

“Shh. Let me look at you, baby.”

Louis face turned a light shade of pink and he began to chew on his lip. Harry crawled up onto the bed on his hands and knees, and straddled himself over Louis’ thighs. He ran his fingertips over the slopes of Louis’ torso and let his gaze burn into his skin. Goosebumps raised on the skin Harry trailed over, and he purposely avoided Louis’ sensitive cock and nipples.

“You’re gorgeous, Louis,” he leaned down and kissed across think ink on his collar bones, earning a hushed whimper from Louis’ lips, “Your mind is gorgeous,” he continued to leave sloppy kisses down his body until he reached his belly button, “Your fucking body is gorgeous,” he dipped his tongue into Louis’ belly button and sucked at the softness below it, “You’re the purest definition of the word.”

He moved his head to suck a deep bruise into Louis’ hip bone and ran his hands up to lightly graze his nipples between his fingers. Louis’ abs flexed at the contact and a bead of precome bubbled out from his tip. His hips thrashed upward lightly and he was poorly concealing his whimpers of pleasure.

Harry pulled off of Louis' hip and pressed his thumb into the mark, causing Louis to drop his mouth open, and let out a silent moan, “Gonna fuck you into next week,” Louis moaned out loud and Harry pinned his hips down with his giant hands, “But first I’m going to tease you a little. Sound good, baby?”

Louis’ eyes were glassed over as he met Harry’s gaze, “Yes, please!”

Harry let out a deep chuckle at his blatant desperation. He looked calm and collected on the outside, but his cock was struggling against his zipper on the inside, “Promise me you’ll tell me if it’s too much?”

“I promise, Harry. Just please do something.”

“Turn over so I can play with your ass.”

Louis flipped over quickly and poked out his bum slightly, giving Harry an amazing view of his curves. Harry stood up off the bed and began to remove his clothing, not tearing his eyes away from Louis’ body once. He tossed his shirt, jeans, and underwear in the direction of his closet and went to his side table to grab lube and a condom.

“Can’t believe I get to have you this way.” Harry thought out loud as he settled behind him on the bed.

He placed the lube and condom to the side and lightly trailed his fingertips over the back of Louis thighs. Louis squirmed at the tingling feeling and clutched on to the pillow underneath him.

Harry trailed his fingertips over the curves of Louis’ cheeks, and saved the mental image of the chills rolling down Louis’ spine, for future reference. He grabbed the skin in his palms and Louis let out a satisfied hum. He kneaded and squeezed at the flesh, salivating at the way it fit so perfectly in his hands.

He rubbed them so that they squeezed together and pushed them back just far enough to not expose his hole. He was teasing the both of them but he knew it would be well worth it in the end.

“Harry,” Louis pleaded.

Harry ignored him and cupped Louis’ cheeks where they met his thighs. He wiggled his hands back and forth quickly, watching his ass cheeks jiggle and clap together. Harry growled at the sound of Louis’ skin slapping against itself and his cock was fully erect now.

“Fuck,” he paused his movements and slid his thumbs in Louis’ crack to reveal his pink, freshly shaven, hole, “This for me, baby?”

Any reply Louis had died when Harry licked a fat stripe along his crack. Louis whimpered and pushed his ass further back onto Harry’s face.

“You taste so fresh and sweet,” Harry spread his cheeks further and nosed along the skin of his cheeks, “Did you have this in mind when you were getting ready for me earlier?”

Harry dove his tongue back into Louis’ ass and Louis muffled his answer into the pillow. Harry left a few sloppy licks to his hole before pulling off to speak.

“Can’t hear you, Lou.”

“Yes, fuck,” Louis lifted his head off the pillow and deepened the arch in his back, “Wanted to make it so good for you.”

Harry pulled back and licked his palm. He brought it to the underside of his cock, getting it slick enough, to be able to slide in between Louis’ cheeks. He spread the skin open and rubbed his cock up and down his crack.

They both moaned in unison and Harry bent over Louis’ body to whisper in his ear, “Like that? Like how hard you make me?” he sucked Louis’ lobe into his mouth and thrust back and forth carefully, not to slip in to Louis’ hole.

“Love your cock, Harry.” Louis clenched his cheeks around Harry’s member making the slow slide that much tighter and that much more pleasurable.

Harry let himself slide between him a few more times before completely removing himself.

“Turn over, my love.” and, okay, that was the sappiest thing he’s ever said to someone during sex.

Louis didn’t seem to mind as he flipped over immediately and bit hard on his lip as his cock swayed against his stomach. Harry pinned down his hips and ran his hand through Louis’ sweaty fringe. Louis leaned into the touch trying to distract himself from Harry’s hold on his hips.

“You alright, Lou?” Harry checked in just incase it was going too far.

“I’m fine,” he panted out nearly breathless, “M’just impatient.”

Harry laughed and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead, “You’re doing so well,” he placed his lips on Louis' and moaned when Louis automatically slid his tongue in next to his, “Mmm,” Harry sighed and pulled away from the kiss, “Gonna open you up now.”

“Please,” Louis spoke through his shiny pink lips, “Need you.”

Harry grabbed the bottle of lube and made himself comfortable on Louis left side.

“Drizzle it on my fingers for me.”

Louis snatched the bottle from Harry, flipped the cap open, and drizzled the liquid over three of his fingers. Harry watched him with a small smile as Louis tugged his hand lower towards his ass.

“Love how eager you are.” Louis blushed at Harry’s words and tossed over so his back was facing Harry.

Harry thought he upset him and was ready to apologize, until Louis backed his ass up into Harry’s groin, causing Harry to buck his hips up against the softness of his cheeks.

“If you don’t get your fingers in my arse in the next ten seconds, I’m going to get myself off without you, and you’ll be left with massive blue balls.”

Harry didn’t waste another second and dragged his lubed up fingers around Louis’ hole. Louis let out a soft string of curses as Harry circled the pads of his fingers around the ring of muscle at a maddeningly slow pace. When he felt Louis body relax against him, he brought his lube-free hand across Louis’ chest, and began to suck a mark where his shoulder met his neck.

Louis moaned at the feeling and Harry slipped the tip of his pointer finger past Louis’ entrance. Louis clenched around his finger once and relaxed enough to let the rest of Harry’s finger slide through. Harry pulled off of Louis neck to watch his face as he slipped his finger in and out.

Louis’ mouth was open ajar and his eyes were squeezed shut in pleasure. His cheeks were a rosy shade of pink and his fringe was swept delicately over his forehead. Harry pressed a long, sweet kiss to Louis’ neck and kept his finger moving in and out.

“Fuck,” Louis bit at his bottom lip, “Another, please.”

Harry withdrew his finger from the tight heat and pushed back in with two. Louis moaned the loudest Harry ever heard him, and Harry watched in awe as his face shifted from a wince to pure desperation. Harry scissored his fingers in and out of Louis’ hole and pinched at his nipples with the hand across his chest.

Louis turned his blissed out face toward Harry and Harry couldn’t deny kissing the daylights out of him. Harry was stimulating Louis in so many different places, he didn’t know how he hasn’t come by now, but he’s glad Louis is holding off.

“So perfect, baby” Harry kissed at Louis’ mouth sloppily, “Gonna give you another finger then I’ll fuck you till you come.”

Louis nodded his head and ground his ass down on the third finger Harry was beginning to push in. Louis panted out high pitched moans and Harry’s cock dripped steadily with precome. Louis was falling apart this beautifully with just his fingers, Harry couldn’t wait to get his cock inside him.

Harry continued to drag out the process and purposefully avoided his prostate. He slid his fingers around slowly and scissored him open on every other drag. The tip of Louis’ cock was a deep red and he clutched his hands tightly into the sheets in order not to get a hand on himself.

“H-harry, fuck” he clenched around his fingers, “I’m ready, please, wanna ride you for a bit.”

Harry pulled out his fingers carefully and sat up against his headboard to let Louis straddle him. He gripped Louis’ left hip while he used his other hand to tease the head of his cock against Louis’ balls. Louis cried out at the sensitivity and hurriedly ripped open the foil packaging of the condom beside him.

He rolled it over Harry’s cock and grabbed the lube, squirting a generous amount, and gave Harry a few desperately needed tugs. Harry guided his cock to Louis’ entrance and sucked one of Louis’ nipples into his mouth. Louis jumped at the combination but braced himself on Harry’s shoulders as he began to sink down.

“You’re so fucking big.” Louis panted out and paused his sinking movements to catch his breath.

Harry wasn’t much better off. Louis' tight, wet, heat, was squeezing sinfully at his tip, and the compliment only made the experience more pleasurable, “Take your time,” Harry bit out and winced as Louis clenched around him.

Harry went back to sucking at Louis nipples and caressing his ass cheeks as a way to relax him. The feather light touches around his ass made Louis shiver and Harry’s tongue flicking against his sensitive nub made him desperate for more.

He began to sink down further until Harry was halfway in. Louis swiveled his hips and slowly stretched himself more around Harry’s cock. Harry had to bite onto Louis’ shoulder at the feeling so he would’t come right away.

Louis sank lower until he sat completely on Harry’s lap and nearly burst into tears when Harry’s tip grazed against his prostate. Louis pulled Harry by his hair and slid their tongues together in a hot open mouth kiss. He steadily circled his hips, getting used to the feeling, and let himself indulge the feeling of Harry’s cock rubbing up against his sweet spot.

“You feel incredible,” Harry panted into Louis’ mouth, “Bounce your ass on my cock. Make me feel good.”

Louis whined as he slipped his mouth off of Harry’s. He lifted up half way off Harry’s cock and slammed back down. Harry was fucking seeing stars and had to close his eyes so he wouldn’t pass out.

Louis kept that same pace up for a while and Harry grabbed handfuls of his cheeks spreading him open slightly. Harry gave in and let Louis use his cock for his own enjoyment. His bounces sped up, the slapping noises increased in volume, and Louis was growing more and more breathless.

“Fuck!” Louis yelped out on a particularly rough bounce, “Harry, Harry, need you.”

His bounces began to slow down and his thighs must have been on fire for how long he kept up his incredible pace.

“I’m right here, baby,” Harry plated his feet and gripped onto Louis’ hips, and fucked into him at a steady pace, “Think you can come like this? Come on just my cock?”

Louis whimpered out a muddled response and dug his nails into Harry’s shoulders. Harry growled at the sharp sting and fucked his cock into Louis deeper and faster. Harry was so close, but he didn’t want to come before Louis.

He paused his thrusts and turned Louis over on his back without pulling out. He brought Louis delicious thighs over his shoulders, leaned down to suck on his neck, and let the tip of his cock massage against Louis’ prostate.

“Say your mine,” Harry rasped huskily in his ear, “Wanna hear you say it.”

“I’m—fuck,” Harry began to thrust deep and hard as Louis tried his best to answer, “I’m yours, Harry. It’s you, sh-shit, it’s only ever been you.”

“Keep moaning my name,” Harry begged as he sped up his thrusts and nailed Louis’ prostate each time, “So close, baby, you feel like fucking heaven.”

Louis dug his hands into Harry’s hair and pulled tightly as he repeated a sensual mantra of Harry’s name. Harry wished he could put that on an album and play it just for himself.

Louis began to clench around Harry’s cock and his face was strewn up in pleasure, “Harry, I’m so close, say it.”

Harry was confused at first but quickly realized what he was asking for. He sent his thrusts into overdrive and right before the both of them peaked, Harry whimpered out, “Love you.” and they were both coming undone.

Louis shot white splatters of come between the two of them and Harry buried himself as deep as possible inside of Louis as he filled up the condom with his own. They were both panting, and Louis’ legs slid off of Harry’s shoulders, and revealed his completely fucked out state. Harry swirled two fingers in Louis’ come and shoved them in Louis’ mouth. Louis moaned blissfully at the taste and Harry’s cock pumped out one last stream at the sight.

“Fuck,” Harry breathed. He leaned down to drag his tongue over Louis’ body gathering every last bit of come. He removed his fingers from Louis’ mouth and swapped them out with his come-covered tongue. They both moaned at the salty flavor, but mostly at how fucking hot the exchange was.

Harry removed his tongue from Louis’ mouth and placed a long, gentle kiss, to his rosy pink lips. He slowly pulled out of Louis and tossed the used condom into his trash bin.

Harry plopped down next to Louis on his back and continued to catch his breath. Louis immediately threw a leg over Harry’s hips and cuddled closely into his side.

“You’re amazing.” he pressed a kiss into the side of Harry’s neck.

Harry let him continue sucking and biting underneath his jaw until he knew there would be plenty of bruises in the morning.

“Baby,” Louis didn’t stop his art work on Harry’s neck, “Hey,” Harry jostled him slightly in his arms until Louis pulled off with a wet smack and looked him in the eye, “So, does this—um—Are we like, official?”

Louis’ teasing grin took over his face, “What do you mean, Harold?”

Harry gave his bare ass a smack and kissed the protest off his lips, “You know what I mean,” he caressed his hand up and down Louis’ sensitive ass cheek and spoke softly between them, “Wanna hold your hand in public, wanna sneak kisses before shows,” he pressed a kiss to Louis’ forehead and brought his face level with Louis’, “Want to introduce you, to everyone we meet, as my _boyfriend_  instead of my _bandmate_.”

Louis’ eyes crinkled and his lips spread into a wide smile, “I’d quite like that.”

“Really?” Harry breathed out excitedly, “You’re agreeing to being my boyfriend?”

“Yes, love,” he rolled his eyes fondly and pressed a kiss to Harry’s lips. It was one of those kisses that starts off as lips against lips but quickly turnes into smiles against smiles, “Let’s get some sleep, yeah? We should wake up early, to rehearse for our show Saturday, and after that you can take me out on a proper date.”

They both chuckled and cuddled in closer until they were comfortable under the sheets.

“Goodnight, Harry.”

“Goodnight, Lou.”

—


	13. Chapter 13

“Sounds sick, baby!” Harry grinned from behind him as Louis played a sample tune for the song Harry wrote for Louis.

“Thanks. Couldn’t really get the idea out of my head when I woke up this morning.”

Louis had shook him awake urgently, demanding that Harry get out of bed, and come listen to what he created. He was going to ignore him and sleep in a little bit longer, but as soon as he saw _his_  t-shirt ride up a little to reveal the cutest bum in the world, Harry was out of bed at lightning speed.

“You’re so insanely talented,” he wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist and kissed his cheek repeatedly, “Wanna knock it out now?”

“Sure,” he leaned his head over his shoulder and puckered his lips for a kiss. Harry obliged and they both hummed at the warm feeling they shared, “Get some pants on and we’ll get started.”

He went in for another kiss but Harry leaned back at the last second.

“And how is that fair,” Harry asked as he ran his hands over Louis’ hipbones and teased feather light touches at the crease of his thighs, “You get to show off your perky little ass but I can’t do the same?”

Harry sucked against Louis’ neck and rubbed his stirring cock against the softness of Louis’ cheeks.

“Mmmh,” Louis whimpered and bit at his lip, “Maybe if you had a perky arse to show off I’d let you.”

Harry pulled off his neck and pressed a finger to the bruise. He’s quickly learned, Louis is very fond of that feeling, and Harry is very fond of watching him melt.

“Anything for you, princess.” Harry pressed and obnoxious kiss to Louis’ face and headed towards their room to slip on a pair of boxers.

This was the nicest morning he’s had in so long, and he wanted more than anything to have many, many, more just like it.

—

“It’s an octave higher, love, try again.”

Louis counted them in and sang the lines of the chorus as Harry corrected his mistake on guitar. At first Harry struggled to find the harmony, but Louis encouraged him, and pushed until, finally, they both got it, and the notes sounded natural instead of forced. Louis was a musical genius and Harry was glad he was given the opportunity to learn from someone like him, who actually went to school, and got a degree in music.

The mixture of Harry’s self-taught knowledge, and Louis’ years of music theory and lessons, made for an extremely entertaining sound. Harry could not wait to get their demo mixed and mastered so they could hopefully start handing them out, and performing the songs off them.

Harry played his verse over again, in a higher octave as Louis suggested, and finished off effortlessly.

“Fantastic, Harry!” he leaned over and ruffled a hand through his curls.

“Yeah? You think its ready?”

“Surprisingly, yeah. I work a morning shift at the studio tomorrow, and no one is ever scheduled in the mornings, so I’ll try to hand it off to one of the producers, or just master it myself.”

He pulled off his headphones and set his guitar to the side, saving the work from his laptop to his usb. Harry removed his guitar and headphones as well and rubbed at his grumbling tummy. He checked the time on his phone and saw that it was already nearing 3 pm.

“Oh shit, didn’t realize how long we’ve been playing.”

Louis shut his laptop and tiptoed over to Harry and sat himself comfortably in his lap. Harry wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist and gave his nose a quick peck. They sat there in comfortable silence, their bodies warming each other, and their breathing aligning.

Louis stomach broke the silence and he quickly covered it trying to make the sound disappear. Harry laughed quietly and laid Louis on his back. He crawled between his legs, lifted his shirt up to his abdomen, and blew raspberries around Louis’ bellybutton.

Louis squirmed and wiggled underneath him but Harry didn’t let up for a second.

“Harry, you shit, that tickles!” he tugged at Harry’s curls to get him off.

Harry continued to blow on the skin and eventually moved on to pressing feather light kisses into the softness under his belly button. Harry was mildly obsessed with Louis’ little tummy, but wouldn’t admit it out loud.

“You hungry, Lou?” he nibbled at the skin and soothed the sting with his tongue.

“No.” he flat out lied.

Harry looked up to see a teasing smile on Louis’ face. He stood up off the couch and in one swift motion, picked Louis up, and threw him over his shoulder.

“Put me down!”

“Hush,” he spanked Louis’ cheek lightly, “Let’s get dressed and I’ll take you on that _proper date_  you’ve been begging for.”

“I’ve done no such thing—ooof!” Harry plopped him down on the bed and headed toward the bathroom.

“First one in the shower gets afternoon head.” he raced to the door and shut it behind him. He laughed at Louis’ protests on the other side and started the water for the both of them.

His heart raced with excitement, for not only the promise of a blow job in the shower, but the opportunity to take Louis out on a proper date.

He genuinely could not wait and he was genuinely falling deeper and deeper at a rapid speed.

—

It was already well past 3 in the afternoon.

Their shower together obviously lasted longer than planned, and it was even harder to keep their hands off of each other as they got ready.

Harry was dressed in one of his ugly (deemed by Louis) patterned button ups, and his signature, black jeans, and black boots combo. Louis was dressed in a white tee, with a beige suede biker jacket, black jeans rolled to expose his delicate ankles, and black worn dress shoes to complete the look.

Harry didn’t know shit about fashion, but felt if Louis ever quit music, modeling was something he could fall back on. Maybe he was just biased.

“Where are you taking me, love?” Louis yelled from the bathroom where he was artfully adjusting his fringe to his liking.

Harry leaned against the door and took in the beauty in front of him, “You’re stunning.” he let slip from his mouth.

Louis blushed at his reflection in the mirror and turned to walk towards him. He adjusted Harry’s collar and ran his hands down his unbuttoned chest, “Thank you,” he stole a kiss from Harry’s unsuspecting lips, “That doesn’t answer my question, though."

Harry smirked and slid his hands into Louis’ back pockets and pulled him in close, “Kinda want to just keep you here,” he gave Louis’ backside a squeeze through the fabric and placed a kiss on his nose, “You look too good not to be taken to bed.”

Harry pressed kisses all over Louis’ face and Louis weakly pushed at Harry’s chest feigning annoyance, “Babe, stop, you’ll get me all wrinkled!”

Harry lifted his hands to Louis’ face and squished his cheeks together, “Mmmmmuah!” he planted a wet kiss to Louis lips and backed up out of the room.

Harry grabbed the keys on his bedside table, and closed their bedroom door behind them.

“I was thinking an early dinner, and then to romance it up, I’ll take you to see the [Urban Lights](http://collections.lacma.org/node/214966)?”

Louis’ face lit up and Harry took that as a good sign, “I’ve only ever seen pictures! That sounds great!”

Fuck yes.

“Well then, let’s get going.”

Harry grabbed his coat from the front closet and opened the front door to let Louis excitedly walk through. He locked the door behind them and shrugged his coat over his shoulders.

“First one to the car gets road head!” Louis jetted off and Harry was left in his dust.

His boyfriend was a nut case, but that didn’t stop Harry from running after him anyways.

—

By the time they got through LA traffic and were seated at a quiet table by the window, the sun was already setting. They put their orders in with the waitress and were keeping their vocal cords hydrated with water for tomorrow evening.

As they waited, Louis wrapped his ankles around Harry’s, and spoke animatedly about a memory with his mother and sisters. His hands were gesturing wildly and his eyes crinkled at the ends. Harry could tell the memory made him genuinely happy. It made Harry’s heart hurt at the thought of Louis being eight time-zones away from his family. He wished he could fly all of them out to LA, or at the very least, fly Louis up there for a few days. That was something he would definitely look into.

“What about you?” Louis nudged at his foot snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

“I’m sorry. What were you asking?” Harry leaned forward against the table.

“I was asking about the last time you spoke to your mum.”

Fuck. Harry realized Louis still didn’t know about his nonexistent relationship with either of his parents. He wished the subject didn’t have to be breeched over their first date as a couple, but Harry has waited long enough, and he was sure Louis wouldn’t be one to judge.

“I, um, haven’t, actually,” he looked across at Louis and saw his puzzled reaction, “Yeah, the last conversation I had with either of my parents, was more of a screaming match, about me moving out here, and how disappointed they were.”

“Harry,” Louis took his hands in both of his and squeezed, “I’m so sorry. If I knew I wouldn’t have brought it up—“

“Don’t be sorry, baby,” he brought Louis’ knuckles to his mouth and pressed a kiss to each, “They never supported my music, or my choice to pursue it, but I knew when I made the choice to move out here, just how isolated I’d be. By them especially,” he let out a depreciating chuckle and shook his head, “I mean I’ve tried to get in contact with them over the years, but they just want nothing to do with me, I guess.”

Louis’ eyes softened in sympathy and he rubbed soothing circles onto the back of Harry’s hands, “You don’t deserve any of that. You should be loved and supported unconditionally, and it’s a shame they’re missing out on watching their amazingly talented son grow.”

Harry blushed and let Louis’ words settle into his bones.

Harry did feel loved and supported.

By Louis.

“Thank you, Louis,” he leaned over the table and stole a kiss from Louis’ lips, “You have no idea how much your words mean to me.” he searched Louis’ eyes and slowly let his dimples appear when Louis didn’t break the stare.

Harry caught a glance of the waitress bringing out their entrees and reluctantly pulled away so they could be served. The smell of their creamy pasta was intoxicating. Louis was in the mood for comfort food that was also easy on his vocal chords so they both agreed this was the best option.

Harry’s mouth salivated and he wasted no time shoving a fork-full into his mouth. Louis feigned disgust but followed Harry’s actions shortly after.

“Mmmm,” Louis chewed and closed his eyes blissfully, “So fucking good.”

Harry nearly choked at the sound of Louis’ borderline-pornographic moans. He swallowed down a much needed gulp of water and tried not to let Louis’ continued moans affect him.

“Do you have to be so obscene?” Harry whispered, trying to get Louis to do the same.

“Yes, Harry, fuck!” he shoved another fork-full of pasta into his mouth and threw his head back in satisfaction.

People around them were beginning to stare and Harry just laughed, slightly embarrassed, “You’re going to get us kicked out before desert.”

“Don’t need desert,” he swallowed, “I already have you.”

Harry chewed on his food smugly. Seemed like his sappiness was rubbing off on him and he was not complaining in the slightest.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Louis blushed and wiped his thumb at the corner of his mouth and sucked the contents off teasingly.

Yeah, he was definitely going to hold him to it.

—

“Who knew California would be so b-bloody cold.” Louis stuttered out through his chattering teeth.

The sun had just fallen over the horizon and the moon was just beginning to greet them. An icy cool breeze was steadily blowing over them, and their noses and cheeks turned a faint shade of pink, from the frosty bite of the wind.

“Come here.” Harry opened up his coat and invited Louis into his side.

Louis attached himself to the warmth of Harry’s body and Harry wrapped the remainder of the coat around him. Louis buried his face into the side of Harry’s neck and Harry tightened his hold on him to guide him as they walked, “We can go home if you want. I didn’t know it would get this cold, m’sorry.”

“No, no, need a picture with you at the lights,” Harry felt a spark of warmth spread through his body and his lips curled up at the ends, “For mum, of course.”

“Uh-huh,” Harry jostled him in his arms, “Admit it, you want to show me off as much as I do you.”

“Hardly,” and, okay, he was probably right, “But I guess your pretty mug wouldn’t look so bad as my wallpaper.”

Harry giggled and pulled Louis in for a long peck, “It’s one more block and to the left,” he slid his hand into Louis’ back pocket and Louis let out a squeak, “Don’t lose that parking pass.” Harry smiled down at him, cheeky as ever, and kept his hand right above the curve at the bottom of Louis’ spine.

They endured the cold winds against their faces, all the way down, and around, until they reached the corner of FairFax Ave and Wilshire Blvd. The installation was only a short walk ahead of them but Harry stopped them on the corner, and shielded Louis’ line of vision with his body.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked with a smile on his face but confusion in his tone.

His eyes were sparkling, his skin was glowing despite the harsh drop in temperature, his hair was beautifully windswept and sticking in different directions, and his lips were shiny from him constantly licking at them.

Harry was so awestruck at the delicate beauty before him. He couldn’t believe he was about to share such a special moment and many, many, more with this man.

He leaned down and drew Louis in for a long drawn out kiss on the lips and leaned his forehead against his, “Close your eyes.”

Louis scoffed but followed Harry’s direction anyway.

Harry laced their hands together and walked backwards, constantly checking over his shoulder, to make sure he wouldn’t trip over anything. As Harry walked them closer he noticed there were a few couples hanging around the lights, and a few trios of teenagers swapping out each others phones to check the quality of their selfies.

Louis was doing well with keeping his eyes closed but wasn’t doing as well containing the smile on his face.

“Just a little step up,” Harry gripped tighter as Louis blindly took the first step up to the light installation, “Don’t peek yet,” Harry dropped their hands and went to stand behind him. He placed his hands on Louis’ hips and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple, “Open.”

Harry watched as Louis opened his eyes and took in the lights in front of him. Louis breath hitched slightly and a grand smile took over his face. His eyes lit up and Harry kissed at the crinkles around them. Harry hasn’t even given the art installation a second glance. He didn’t need to. He was holding a work of exceptional beauty in his arms.

“It’s so much bigger in person.” Louis stated and didn’t waste time pulling Harry into the labyrinth of antique, cast iron, street lamps.

Louis pulled out his phone and snapped pictures from different angles, and different focuses. He even pulled Harry into the frame to film a video for his mother to wake up to. The great lighting prompted Louis to snap about a thousand selfies of the both of them, most of them being silly, or unfocused, but Harry didn’t mind, he was enjoying this just as much as Louis.

Louis took a second to admire the lights that towered over him by twenty to thirty feet. He studied the patterns at the base of the lamps, and trailed his eyes up the fluted shafts, until his vision blurred from staring at the bulbs for too long. During his period of admiration, Harry managed to score a gorgeous photo of Louis’ side profile staring up into the light.

When Louis heard the shutter of his camera go off, he looked towards Harry, and Harry snapped another.

“Creep,” Louis walked over to him and kissed his way from Harry’s dimples to his lips, “Let’s take one with the lights behind us.”

Harry walked them over to the side where the smaller lamps started and extended his arm out as far as he could, trying to fit everything he could in the frame.

“You want us to take it?” one of the teenage girls offered when she saw Harry was struggling.

“Yeah, please,” Harry walked over to hand her the phone and suddenly and idea popped in his head, “Oh! make sure it’s focused on the lights so our bodies will be silhouettes.”

“Oooh good idea!”

Harry strode back over towards Louis and adjusted his body to face him, “Just do this one cheesy thing for me, baby, and I’ll owe you in sex tonight, please, please, please.”

Louis scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, “What? What are you on about?”

Harry threw Louis arms around his neck as the girl counted down _3, 2, 1..._

He pulled Louis in by the waist and kissed him right on the mouth. The group of girls awwed and cooed, and the one holding his phone took about fifty pictures. Harry pulled off of Louis’ mouth and whispered a soft thank you against them.

He jogged over to retrieve his phone and thanked the girl profusely.

“No problem! You’re such a cute couple!” she all but squealed.

Harry blushed and let out another stream of bashful thank you’s. He made his way back over to Louis with a pep in his step, and when he reached him, he kissed him square on the mouth.

“Mmm, you’re spoiling me with affection today.”

Harry pulled him in under his arm and pressed a kiss to his hair, “Get used to it.”

He unlocked his phone and went to check the pictures to see how they turned out.

“Harry,” Louis said a bit breathless, “These are fucking gorgeous.”

They absolutely were. The focus was on the lights and their bodies were mostly shadow. In some of them, their faces were slightly illuminated, but in most of them, it was one silhouette bleeding into another, and the arch in Louis’ back gave the photos a sensual softness.

“Let’s use one as our demo cover.” Louis blurted out.

Harry nearly died right there.

“Lou—”

“No one will know it’s us, well, besides us, and it’s aesthetically pleasing, and it would save a ton—“

Harry cut him off with a gentle, meaningful kiss to his lips, “I love the idea, Lou,” he pressed another soft peck to his mouth, “You’re so brilliant, baby,” he flicked through his pictures until he reached the one of Louis’ illuminated side profile, “But I’m keeping this one as my wallpaper okay? This one’s for my eyes only.”

Louis giggled into Harry’s neck and shook his head, “Speaking of _for your eyes only_ ,” he tugged on Harry’s coat lapels and bit at his lip, “I believe I was promised sex in exchange for your cheesy photos.”

“Indeed you were,” he shoved his phone in his coat pocket and laced his fingers through Louis’, “Let’s go get a _head_  start in the Jeep, yeah?”

Louis rolled his eyes and tugged him in the direction of where they parked, “My boyfriend is a bloody idiot."

Harry was so in love. Deeply, deeply, in love.

\--


	14. Chapter 14

_Harry, Harry, Harry_

Louis whined as he straddled Harry’s waist. Harry wanted so badly to reach up and grab him, but each time he went to move his arms, they wouldn’t budge. It was a weird and extremely uncomfortable situation, but Louis’ consistent bouncing made up for his temporary inability to move.

“Harry,” Louis gazed at him through lust filled eyes, “Do you love me?”

Of course he did. Harry was ready and willing to shout it from any rooftop on any day.

Harry opened his mouth to enthusiastically recite that he was madly in love, and it was growing deeper by the day, only to be met with silence. He tried to force out any kind of noise, desperate to please Louis, but no matter how hard he tried, no sound left his mouth.

“I can’t hear you,” he increased his bounces and Harry felt like he was screaming at the top of his lungs, but was still met with silence, “Harry, please!”

Harry thrashed about trying to get the words out and his body to move, but was he was frozen to the spot, and his voice remained mute.

His vision was beginning to blacken around the edges and Louis was slowly fading away from him. Harry was panicking and forced his arms to grab a hold of him, but it was too late, and Harry’s body began to shake.

“Harry,” Louis called, “Harry wake up!”

Harry’s eyes shot open and he inhaled a deep breath as his body jerked awake. Louis was on top of him, fully clothed, and in one piece, and Harry had never been more grateful to see him.

“You alright, love?”

Harry shook his head and pulled Louis on top of him to lay them down. He squeezed his arms tightly around him and hid his shame into the side of Louis’ neck.

Nothing like your new boyfriend walking in on you having a wet dream turned nightmare.

“Just a bad dream,” he kissed Louis’ neck and cherished the light hint of rose water Louis always smelled like, “Started off with you riding me, then I couldn’t move or talk, and then you started to disappear, and it was just an ugly feeling losing you.”

Louis pulled back and took Harry’s face between his hands, “I’m here, babe, not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Harry smiled at his reassurance and puckered his lips silently asking Louis to kiss them. Louis indulged him with one tiny peck and began to run his fingers through Harry’s silky locks.

“You sure that’s it? Nothing else is going on to make your subconscious flip like that?”

Harry leaned into Louis’ strokes through his hair and thought about his response for a second, “Think I’m just nervous for tonight,” Louis’ eyes softened at Harry’s admission, “Just want to do well for the both of us and I think that’s whats got me so worked up.”

“Love,” he backed up to where he was straddling Harry’s waist and was looking straight at him, “You’re amazing, yeah? You’re meant to be behind that mic, whether it’s by my side or not, and I never want you to forget that. I’m always going to be proud of you and everything you continue to do for us.”

Harry smiled wide and let Louis’ soothing words calm him down.

He was never this way with his solo work. He was always eager to get up on stage, do his thing, and be the center of attention, but this time around was different. This time around he wanted to be the best version of himself and the best artist he could be.

What he has with Louis is more important than any performance he could’ve ever done alone.

“I love you.” he rasped out quietly. He’s only ever said it while Louis was asleep or during sex, but this time was different. They were face to face, with sun light streaming in through their curtains, and Harry’s sleepy green eyes were staring back at Louis’ bashful face.

Louis blushed from the tip of his ears down to his chest and masked his smile into a lingering kiss on Harry’s mouth. He’s never said it back, but Harry completely understood why, and wasn’t going to push him. It felt like he loved him back either way.

Louis peppered a few more kisses on Harry’s mouth and across his cheeks before hopping out of bed entirely.

“I have a surprise. Close your eyes.”

Harry rested his hands behind his head and closed his eyes as he was told. He heard the sound of Louis rushing out of their door and scurrying around the apartment. He had no idea what Louis had up his sleeve and he was bracing himself for the unexpected.

Louis pushed through their bedroom door once more and returned to his original position straddled across Harry’s hips. Harry squeezed his eyes shut tighter, and scrunched up his nose, so his smile wouldn’t take over his entire face.

“You ready?” Louis asked with a hint of mischievousness to his voice. Harry shook his head and bit back a laugh, “Okay, open.”

Harry opened his eyes and right in front of him was their demo, with a black and white version of the picture they took the night before, as their cover, and a small _H &L_ printed into the corner. Harry’s jaw dropped and he took the cd sleeve between his hands and flipped it over. The back was a blurry shot of the urban lights and their four songs listed out in the left margin.

“The cover art is the same on iTunes and anywhere else we decide to put it. Just wanted to show you a physical version.” Louis announced smugly.

“Lou—When did you do this?”

“I told you I had a shift at the studio this morning.”

Harry reached over to his phone and saw that it was already nearing 2 pm. Shit. He nearly slept through the entire day.

“Oh shit, I didn’t realize I slept so late.” he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and went back to examining the demo in his hand.

He had no idea how Louis pulled this off in such a short amount of time, but he was so glad he did, and he was so impressed with how it turned out.

“Do you like it?” Louis bit at his lip hesitantly.

“Baby,” he pulled Louis into his chest and left a trail of sweet kisses across his face, “Of course I do. I love it. I just can’t get over how fucking ingenious you are.”

Louis scoffed and Harry kissed the sound right out of his mouth.

“I’m serious, Lou! How many of these did you make?”

“Just this one, and I may have ordered...a couple…hundred.”

Harry laughed out loud and kissed the pout off Louis’ face.

“Where are we going to put a couple hundred of these?” he waved around the slip in his hand.

“We’re obviously going to try any sell them, Harry, and if not we’ll just give them out, it didn’t cost much to make.”

“Is 'H&L’ what we’re going to call ourselves?”

Louis slightly blushed and cleared his throat, “I just liked how the letters looked together, and thought it was easy enough to remember, but if you don’t like it we can always go with something else, I mean, we’ve never really discussed it and—"

“Lou, relax. I think it’s a great idea,” he pinched at Louis’ cheek until he smiled, “It kind of has a ring to it. _H &L, H&L, H&L_. Just kinda rolls off the tongue nicely.”

Louis laughed lightly and shook his head fondly as Harry repeated the letters, “You’re absolutely sure, yes? I honestly just put it on there for the aesthetic and I want you to be part of the decision of our band name.”

“Babe, I am one hundred percent sure. I’ve actually admired our initials together ever since you handed me the first usb stick with them scribbled onto it."

“Good,” he kissed Harry on the mouth, “Now go shower. You stink and I refuse to rehearse in such foul conditions.”

He hopped off with a wink and Harry caught his wrist, “Or, you could join me, and I can properly thank you for everything you’ve done for us this morning?” he bounced his eyebrows obnoxiously and saw Louis begin to give in.

“….Fine,” he rolled his eyes and headed toward the bathroom, “But as soon as the water goes cold I’m out.”

Harry sprung out of bed and pulled Louis into the bathroom as quickly as possible.

He knew the water hardly ever went cold, and Louis did too, but that didn’t slow either of them down.

—

  
“Harry, look who I found!”

It was about ten minutes before they were supposed to take the stage and Harry was nearly finished with setting up. He paused his plugging of cords into certain outlets behind the stage and turned to see who Louis brought over.

“Niall! Hey!” Harry walked over and gave his hand a firm shake. He’d texted him a few hours ago to let him know where they were playing and what time, “Glad you could make it out…I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

Harry looked between the two of them suspiciously and Louis rolled his eyes.

“For God’s sake, Harry, did you forget I work in the same studio he volunteers at?”

Oh, right. Oops.

“Of course I didn’t forget,” his cheeks reddened and he darted his eyes away shamefully, “Was just curious.”

Louis turned to address Niall, “He can be a bit possessive. I apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he awkwardly chuckled and scratched at the back of his neck, “So, um, I invited a few buddies of mine, and first round is on us after the show, sound good?”

“Sounds great, man. Enjoy the show!” Harry pat him on the back and Louis gave them both a small smile.

“Break a leg gentlemen.” he squeezed each of their shoulders and walked away.

Harry stared at Louis’ profile as he watched Niall walk away. When he was just out of earshot, Louis turned to Harry, with a smirk on his face, and a raised eyebrow.

“What was that?” he asked.

“What was what?” Harry played clueless but knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Seriously, Harry, he’s probably heard me wax poetic about you more than me own mum.”

A dazzling smile took over Harry’s face at Louis’ admission of bragging about him to other people.

“Wax poetic about me, huh?” Harry stepped up to him and cocked his head to the side. Louis huffed out a sigh but bashfully hid his face into Harry’s chest.

Harry brought his face up by the chin and grinned when Louis’ flustered state met his.

“What do you say about me, Louis?”

“That you’re a giant knob with an even bigger cock.” his accent dripped heavily from his mouth.

Louis saying he had a giant cock totally distracted him from the fact that he also called him a knob. Whatever that was.

“I’ll take it,” Harry bit down on his lip and adjusted Louis’ shirt against his chest, “Sorry for being a possessive shit, you just look so fucking good tonight, I can’t help myself.”

He let his hands slide down Louis’ torso all the way to the belt loops of his painted on jeans. He tugged Louis closer by them and pressed a firm kiss to his mouth. Louis hummed against his lips and let himself get lost in the moment. They were mostly covered by the shoddy curtain of the bar’s tiny stage, so Harry took it a step further, and pushed Louis up against the nearest wall.

“Harry, we have to get out there soon—oh fuck,” Harry grasped at Louis’ bum and began to suck a mark where his neck met his shoulder, “Babe...”

Louis was breathless, and Harry growled into the skin. He pulled off and made sure the mark was dark enough for his liking before soothing it with his tongue.

“Gorgeous,” Harry pressed a kiss into the mark and gave Louis’ bum one last squeeze, “Love how I look on you.” he smirked at Louis’ glazed over state and pulled him off the wall.

“I think I kind of like your jealous side,” Louis laughed lightly, “I’ll have to get you riled up like that more often.”

Harry rolled his eyes and kissed Louis on the forehead, “If that’s what you’re into, baby.”

They both laughed between stolen kisses and butterflies in their tummies. The pre-show jitters were setting in and they both knew it was about time they took the stage.

“I’ll go fetch us some waters while you finish up back here?” Louis suggested.

“Sure. I’ll be here awaiting your arrival.” Harry sent him off with a kiss and a swift smack to the ass.

This show was redemption for him. He was going to sing and play his ass off for Louis, and he wasn’t going to spoil the night like the last time.

Jitters be damned, Harry was ready.

\--

“Good evening, Los Angeles,” Louis opened the show brightly as usual. The surprisingly crowded room cheered back at him and welcomed them warmly, “I’m Louis Tomlinson and one-half of H&L.”

“And I’m Harry Styles, the other half of H&L,” he turned up the charm and made sure his dimples were visible to everyone, “We’ve got a mix of covers and original songs for you this evening and we appreciate any kind of feedback.”

“Unless, of course, it includes booing us off the stage, then please hold all criticisms till the end.”

The crowd laughed and Harry admired Louis from beside him.

“[This first one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZBJD8zYOo) is a little more recent, and usually a crowd favorite, so sing along if you know it.” Louis stepped back from the mic and made eye contact with Harry.

Harry silently counted them off and began to pluck out the beginning chords to their first song. Harry let his fingers drag across the strings for the occasional buzzing affect and slowly stepped up to the mic.

“Tried to keep, you close to me, but life got in between,” Harry rasped out and continued his strumming on guitar.

Harry carried out the first and second verse, along with the first chorus. Louis added in his harmony where it was necessary, and continued his rhythmic guitar playing. Harry caught a few people in the crowd singing along and bobbing their heads to the music, and he couldn’t wait to see how the reactions differed to their own music.

As the second chorus approached, the two of them turned to each other and belted out the lyrics. Louis taking the higher range and Harry taking the lower.

_Hold back the river let me look in your eyes_  
_Hold back the river so I,_  
_can stop for a minute and be by your side_  
_hold back the river, hold back_

The crowd cheered them on at a high volume as they repeated the same words with a fire inside of them. It was always easier to put on an amazing show when the crowd was as energetic as this one.

They both pulled back from their mic’s and let the people sing out the string of _oh’s_  and _whoa’s_. When their eyes met again they couldn’t help but smile back at each other, and Harry felt a warm tingling of pride in his chest for the both of them.

Louis took the second half of the song, hypnotizing the crowd with his soft rasp, and hitting the high notes effortlessly. Harry joined back in during the last few verses of the song and ended it on the same chords he opened up with.

The crowd was hooting and hollering before Harry properly finished out the song, and the two of them on stage, were beaming from ear to ear. Harry bowed in place thanking them for their participation and Louis took to the mic.

“Amazing crowd tonight, give it up!” the audience roared again and the sound of bottles clinking together in cheers echoed throughout the bar.

“Thank you all so much, that was fun wasn’t it?” Louis directed the question at Harry.

“Best crowd we’ve played for if I’m being honest.” the crowd ate it up and Louis just smirked at his response.

“Let’s see if they’ll have the same enthusiasm for this next one, yeah?”

Harry nodded, as the increasingly drunken crowd hollered again, and mouthed out 1, 2, 3, 4….

They played out the riffs and chords to the song Harry wrote for Louis. They decided not to reveal the name tonight to hopefully garner interest. It was a risky move, but if enough people liked it, they decided they would permanently add it into their setlist, and would reveal the name during future performances.

Although the lyrics were about Harry begging for forgiveness, they came up with a tune that was a perfect mix of pop and nostalgia, that shouldn’t have worked, but did. Louis took the first verse in stride and raised up on his tippy-toes to contain the excitement rising within him.

The crowd was bobbing their heads around to the unfamiliar beat, but there was not a sour face to be found. In fact, a few people pulled out their phones to record the melody, and the others danced along as the first chorus approached.

_Humble love, where are you tonight_  
_Humble love, baby let’s make this right_

Their voices twined into one and the crowds reaction was semi-stunned at the well polished sound. Harry couldn’t help the blush that crept up on his neck and he didn’t dare check on Louis, as that would probably distract him from his upcoming verse.

Louis kept the rhythm going as Harry sang out the words straight from his heart. He knew no one was going to sing them back now, but he couldn’t wait for the day they did, and he couldn’t wait for the day his and Louis’ hard work paid off.

They sang out the last chorus and a few people in the front were whistling and wooing before the song was even over.

Harry’s heart was ready to burst.

Louis looked over at Harry and shot him a wink as the screams started to calm down.

“How was that? Did you enjoy that one?” Louis asked the crowd.

The whistles and applauds they received, would follow Harry for the rest of his life.

People actually, _genuinely_ , enjoyed their work.

“That one is all thanks to Mr. Styles over there, give it up for him.”

The crowd did as they were told and Harry was on cloud nine. They were proud of him, Louis was proud of him, and for once in his crazy fucked up life, he was proud of himself. He owed Louis endlessly, for giving him another chance at this life, and being a positive impact on everything he did.

He’d never be able to thank him enough, but for now, finishing off the show strong would have to suffice.

\--

“Harry, Louis, over here!” Niall yelled from across the bar.

They just wrapped up their incredible show and their bodies were still vibrating with adrenaline. A type of high Harry would never get tired of.

Harry grabbed Louis’ hand and led them through the crowd of people that were congratulating them on a show well done. They smiled and thanked them all politely until they finally made it to the corner of the bar where Niall was waiting for them.

“Amazing show fellas! Was not expecting so much crowd participation if I’m being honest.”

Harry laughed and embraced Niall with a few pats to his back, “I wasn’t expecting it either but I’m sure as hell glad it turned out that way.”

He stepped back and let Louis give his thanks to Niall for his support and watched fondly as Louis turned him into a blubbering mess with just a bat of his eyelashes. Louis stepped back and leaned himself into Harry’s side and Harry’s arm naturally fit itself around Louis’ waist.

“Harry, there’s some people I’d like you to meet. We’ve been friends for ages but we all just happen to be co-workers at Capitol as well.”

Harry’s heart stopped.

“Capitol?” he looked down at Louis to confirm he had heard right. Louis looked back at him with big eyes and his bottom lip clenched between his teeth.

He was definitely hiding something.

“Capitol, as in, Capitol Records?”

“Correct. When I’m not volunteering that’s where they’re paying me the big bucks.” he snickered to himself.

Harry’s jaw was slightly dropped and Louis was watching him with guilty eyes.

“Did you know we were playing in front of people from Capitol?” he asked as gently as he could with all of the noise surrounding them.

Louis released his lip and spoke into Harry’s ear, “He told me earlier this morning and I might’ve met them before the show.”

He backed up and calculated Harry’s still slightly stunned reaction and went back to further explain.

“I was going to tell you this morning, but when I came back from the studio you were already worried about tonight, and I didn’t want to add any extra stress. I’ll apologize properly later but I really think networking with these people could be the opportunity we need.” he rushed out.

Harry wasn’t mad, in fact, he was kinda grateful Louis considered his anxieties, and made the decision to keep him sane during the length of their set. If he knew he was preforming in front of employees from a huge record label like Capitol, he would have been a nervous wreck.

Harry kissed Louis’ temple and whispered out a hushed _thank you_ , before shaking himself off, and shifting into business mode.

He nodded his head at Niall and followed him over to a group of three men of various ages.

“Gentlemen, this is Harry Styles, Harry this is Nate Albert, Jamie Fiedmen, and Mike Flynn.”

Harry shook each of their hands firmly and greeted them professionally with a hint of dimples.

“Nate is Vice President of A&R, Jamie is head of pop-rock A&R, and Mike is Executive Vice President of A&R, and is also a fellow producer over at Capitol.”

It’s a fucking miracle Harry didn’t piss his pants right there in front of all of these high ranking Capitol staff members. Just by looking at them, he would never be able to tell that these guys could make or break his future.

“Impressive. It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I hope you enjoyed the show.”

“Oh absolutely,” Mike, the youngest looking one of the group answered, “You would think with the career path I’ve chosen I’d get to see live shows anytime I want, but I truly don’t. This was a nice change."

“Agreed,” Nate, the oldest of them all interjected, “This was far more entertaining than the piles of demos sitting at my desk.”

The group of men laughed at their seemingly industry exclusive joke, and Louis and Harry did their best to pass of their laughs, as least awkward as possible.

“Let’s keep the celebration going,” Jamie, the one that seemed to be somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties, spoke up, “This round is on me. Louis would you care to join?”

“Of course.” Louis gave Harry’s hip a tight squeeze and left him with a look that said _Don’t fuck this up_.

So he didn’t.

He gathered more information from the men around him, about their day-to-day schedules, and the differences between their titles. Once he figured out Nate was Mike’s boss, and Mike would (potentially) be the one to clean up their demo, and personally hand it to Nate, Harry pounced on him.

He turned his charm up to eleven, and bantered back and forth about the process of recording, and promoting, and every bitter detail about the industry. He knew exactly what all of them wanted to hear. He’s already been through this process, and has the advantage of their ignorance on his past, above them. Harry had the three of them in the palm of his hand, and could tell the night would end in his and Louis’ favor.

Speaking of Louis…

Harry had been so involved in the four-way conversation, he’d completely distracted himself from the fact that Jamie and him, never made it back with their drinks.

He chanced a peek over his shoulder and quickly played it off when Jamie’s eyes met his. Louis was facing away from him and the two of them seemed to be deep in conversation. Harry turned back to the men in front of him and caught Niall’s reassuring gaze.

Harry knew nothing would happen between them. He just wanted to know what they were discussing so privately.

“So what do you say, Harry?”

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Nate’s voice and three pairs of eyes staring back at him. Shit, fuck, what did he say?

“I’m sorry, it’s a bit loud in here.” he leaned forward and successfully played off that he hadn’t been paying attention.

“I was saying, one of our artists, needs an opening act for a show they’re playing next weekend, and we would love it if you and Louis would come in, and further discuss some sort of arrangement to make that happen.” he raised his thick eyebrow and the other two men gave him a look that said  _take this opportunity and run!_

“We would be honored Mr. Albert.” Harry agreed enthusiastically and reached out a hand to seal the deal.

“Excellent. I understand this is very short notice, and my ass will be on the line if either of you screw this up, but I believe in both of your talent, and we have the resources to help you succeed.”

Harry’s heart started to race and he wished Louis were here to share the great news with him.

“Of course, Mr. Albert, Louis and I have been working for this individually, and together, for a very long time, and we won’t let you down.”

“You’re speaking my language Mr. Styles,” he began to stand and the other two men followed his action, “Niall here will take all of your information and if you both could show up around noon that would be more than ideal.”

“Not a problem, sir,” he reached out and shook Nate’s hand and then Mike’s shortly after, “Thank you for this opportunity. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Niall stayed behind, and the other two men walked in the direction of Louis and Jamie, who were still talking about God knows what. Harry desperately tried to read the lips of any of the three men that were surrounding Louis, but the dim lighting, and distractions around him didn’t help.

He saw Jamie hand Louis a card and the three of them shook Louis’ hand before they all separated from the bar, and made their way towards the exit.

Louis had a bright smile on his face as he pranced his way over towards Harry and Niall. Harry shook his head with a slight laugh at the image of his boyfriend hopping around in the middle of a bar.

As Louis got closer, he sped up, stretched out his arms, and latched onto Harry excitedly. Harry caught him underneath his thighs and spun around a few times to avoid tipping over.

“Well hello to you too, baby,” he spoke into Louis’ ear and kissed his temple, “Missed you.”

God, could he be anymore gone for this man?

“Missed you too, love.” he gave Harry a filthy open-mouthed kiss and moaned at the feeling of Harry sliding his hands lower, and lower, and—

“Um,” Niall cleared his throat obnoxiously, “Still here, you bunch of heathens.”

Harry set Louis down gently and wrapped his arm around Louis’ shoulder. Louis brought his hand up to lace it through Harry’s and tried his best to contain whatever it was that he was so excited about.

“What’s got you so antsy, babe?” Harry asked with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Mmm, I have to keep it confidential,” he groaned in frustration, “But I promise it’ll be worth it when I tell you.”

“I bet I could get it out of you,” Harry whispered huskily into Louis’ ear and nibbled lightly at his lobe.

He had no idea what had gotten into the two of them but they were both wired and ready to pounce on each other at any second. Harry wasn’t complaining though, he was actually doing all he could to keep pretty sounds coming from Louis’ mouth.

“Jesus christ, the two of you,” Niall sighed and, shit, Harry totally forgot he was here, “I already have both of your information, so I’m going to leave now,” he took each of their faces between their hands and squeezed, “Don’t be late tomorrow, don’t show up horny, bring plenty of copies of your demo, and for the love of God, get a room.”

He patted their faces twice and headed in the direction of the exit.

Louis moved to stand in front of Harry and wrapped his arms around his neck. Harry slipped his hands around Louis’ waist and pulled him in closer. Time froze around the two of them as they settled in their embrace. Music was booming around them and shots were being spilled left and right, but the two of them were in their own world, where everything was falling into place, and the two of them were falling deeper in love.

Harry pulled back and squeezed lightly at Louis’ hips, “Did Jamie inform you of the incredible opportunity we’ll be meeting about tomorrow?”

Louis smiled back at him slightly dazed and nodded his head in confirmation.

“What else did he tell you, hm?” Harry smirked and wrapped his arms tightly around Louis until he was nearly lifted off his tippy-toes.

“Swore I wouldn’t tell, babe.” he smirked back and cut off a laugh from escaping his throat.

“Not even me?” he placed a kiss to Louis’ mouth.

“Especially not you.” he giggled deviously and squirmed in Harry’s hold.

“I think I can wiggle it out of you.”

“I think you’re full of shit, but I’d love to see you try.” Louis challenged.

“Well then, let’s find out,” he released Louis from his hold, “I’ll collect our payment while you get the car started. Sound good?”

Louis dug his hand into Harry’s front pocket and Harry’s knees buckled at the touch of Louis’ hand brushing against his cock. Louis pulled out their keys and smiled coyly as if he didn’t just give Harry a semi in public.

Harry watched as Louis swayed his hips towards the exit and out to the chilly night. He took a second to calm his cock down before walking over to the nearest bar tender to collect their money.

He couldn’t wait to get home and tease the information out of Louis.

\--


	15. Chapter 15

Harry had Louis pinned against the front door to their apartment, wrists clenched tightly in his hold, and hips causing friction relentlessly. Louis tried to wiggle free from his grasp but Harry needed him right here right now.

“Babe, please, inside.” Louis panted out through each drag against his cock.

Harry tightened his hold on Louis’ wrists and growled into his neck, but inevitably gave in. He pressed a feather light kiss to Louis’ forehead and dug the keys out from Louis’ pocket. Louis stepped aside so Harry could unlock the door and jerked Harry through when he swung it open.

He latched on to Harry’s lips frantically, kicking the door shut behind him. He toed off his shoes and shucked his coat to the ground all while not disconnecting their lips once. Harry followed Louis’ lead and began to strip off his outerwear and boots. Louis’ tongue was working magic inside his mouth but they eventually had to pull off to breathe.

“Bed.” Louis panted out.

Harry scooped him up from under his thighs and made the quick trip to their bedroom. He laid Louis carefully on his back and went around the bed to reach into his side table to pull out a condom and lube. He laid them down beside Louis and smacked Louis’ fingers away when he went to unbutton his pants.

“No touching, baby,” he laid down between Louis’ legs low enough to where he was eye level with his belly button, “The faster you tell me what I want to hear, the faster I’ll make you come.”

Harry slid Louis shirt up up to his chest and nosed along the expanse of his softly defined abs. Despite a night under stage lights, he still smelled like roses, and the salt from sweat tasted like sugar on his skin.

Harry was so lost in in mapping out Louis’ skin with his senses that he almost missed Louis’ reply.

“Fat chance,” he panted out accompanied by a chuckle, “I practically invented teasing. I can handle this.”

Harry met Louis’ eyes with a raised brow and Louis just smiled with a nod in return.

He crawled up over Louis’ body and pressed a firm kiss to his mouth. He rested their foreheads together and looked into Louis’ eyes deeply.

“You’ll tell me if you want me to stop right?” he questioned seriously.

Louis nodded his head and brushed his fringe out of his eyes.

“And you promise you’ll let me know if you absolutely need to come?”

Harry had never been so bold during sex until he met Louis, but there was a level of trust reciprocated on both ends, and the both of them seemed to know each others limits.

Louis blushed but hummed out an agreement anyway.

“Wanna hear you, baby. Don’t be shy.”

“M’not shy,” he thread his fingers through Harry’s curls and lightly tugged, “Now if you could please get on with it, I’d like to be fucked sometime this century.”

Harry let out a low laugh at his demand.

“That’s all up to you,” he crawled back down Louis’ body and ghosted his fingers over his exposed nipples, “Give me what I want and I’ll give you what you want.”

Louis whined quietly but zipped the imaginary zip over his lips and threw away the key.

“Alright,” Harry pinched both of his nipples hard, making him squirm beneath him, “you’ve made your choice.”

Harry released the nubs between his fingers and moved to the left side of Louis’ chest. He pressed his plump lips gently around the skin of his pec, purposely avoiding his sensitive nipple. He looked into Louis’ eyes intensely as he grazed the tip of his tongue quickly over the tiny nub.

Louis’ eyes rolled back at the teasing sensation and his mouth slightly parted. Harry had no fucking idea how either of them were going to make it through this if Louis was affected that much by something so little.

Harry flicked his tongue over the sensitive area back and forth at a quick pace. He pulled off completely and grazed the rough pad of his middle finger across his spit slick nipple. Louis whined and threw his head back in pleasure, and Harry was going to bust through his pants if Louis kept making those noises.

Harry sucked the entire nub into his mouth and watched intently as Louis moaned out s string over curses and adjusted his fringe over his forehead. He was so unbelievably pretty when he was this turned on. Harry reached a hand down to his own cock to rub off some of the pressure, and kissed his way across Louis’ chest, to move on to his neglected right nipple.

“Doing so well,” he breathed over the skin, “We could speed up this process if you—“

“Nope,” he annunciated perfectly, “I’m throughly enjoying all of this attention.”

Louis was pleased with himself if his smirk was anything to go by. Harry took it in stride and gave him a devious grin before taking his nipple between his teeth. Louis hissed at the feeling and reached his hands out to tug at Harry’s hair. He would be worried that he bit too hard if Louis weren’t rutting up against him.

“Don’t move.” he demanded gently but with intent.

Louis’ hips halted immediately and Harry may or may not have let Louis’ compliance go straight to his cock. He rewarded Louis by sucking one nub into his mouth and rolling the other between his calloused fingers. Louis moaned out blissfully at every flick of his tongue and lightly scratched at Harry’s scalp.

Harry could remain like this for hours, and he’s pretty sure Louis could too, but that wouldn’t help him in his quest to fish information out of him.

He quickly pulled off and looked into Louis' glassy blue eyes, “Take off your shirt and jeans.”

Louis moved to strip from his clothing and Harry sat back to palm himself through his suffocatingly tight jeans. Once Louis was left in only his pair of briefs, Harry’s mouth watered at the wet mark where his cock head stood. He was so enthralled by the sight that he didn’t see Louis move his hand up along side his own to palm at his cock.

Fuck, his touch was electric, and Harry felt like he would give in at any second.

“Harry,” Louis moaned as he pressed his thumb against the crown of Harry’s concealed length, “Want your big, thick, cock inside of me,”

Harry moaned out a string of nonsense as Louis continued to add and take away pressure to his cock.

“Want you to pound into me,” he whispered filthily, “Want to wake up tomorrow morning still stretched open enough to ride you."

Fuck!

Since when did he start dating a porn star?

Louis laid up in bed and turned over on his knees. He peeked over his shoulder coyly and made sure Harry’s eyes were glued to him. He hooked his thumbs into the band of his briefs before letting it snap back against his skin and bending over.

He brought the material higher up to wedge between his crack and expose the meat of his cheeks. Harry could not keep his hands to himself as he smacked at the bottom of both cheeks just to watch them jiggle. He got a little carried away and repeated the movement over and over again until Louis’ sun kissed skin turned a rosy pink.

Louis took it and encouraged him with whimpered out _fuck_ ’s and _yeah_ ’s. Eventually, he pulled his briefs all the way down and backed up to grind his naked ass up against Harry’s fully clothed cock.

Fuck. Something about him being fully dressed and Louis completely naked in his lap turned him on like nothing ever before.

He pulled Louis up gently by the back of his hair and pressed his front fully into his back. He dropped the hand in his hair down to his neglected, leaking, cock, and began to tease his thumb over the head.

Louis mewled in sensitivity and gripped onto each of Harry’s wrists, “Didn’t tell you to take off your briefs yet, did I?”

Harry slowed his movement’s on Louis’ cock and began to suck on the same mark he left earlier. Louis’ body went completely pliant and Harry went back to rubbing off on his naked ass.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” he pulled off of his neck with a wet smack, “But you’re not getting off that easy…pun intended.”

Louis growled in front of him and turned his head to face Harry, “You sure as fuck know how to kill a mood, Harry.”

Harry honked out the most unabashed and most unattractive laugh of all time, but Louis laughed along with him, until their eyes were filling with tears.

“I love you, baby.” Harry let out one last laugh as he wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist and hugged him close.

“I love you, too.”

Time froze. Oxygen vanished from his lungs. His jaw slackened. And his eyes stared back at Louis unblinkingly.

Louis turned completely in Harry’s grip, leaving Harry’s hands to loosely fit around his hips, and took Harry’s face between his own hands.

“You,” Harry swallowed the frog in his throat, “You love me?”

“I do,” he said with a serene smile, “I think I always have.”

Harry’s heart rattled around in his chest and his breaths came out in short pants, “You’re serious? You aren’t just saying this because—“

“Yes, Harry. I’ve wanted to tell you for ages,” he pressed a long firm kiss to the plumpest part of Harry’s bottom lip, “Just felt so right to say in that moment.”

All bets were off as Harry gently laid Louis back down on his back and began to remove his own clothing. The atmosphere shifted from teasing and heated, to passionate and sensual.

He let material slip from his body and watched as Louis tugged himself to Harry getting naked. Harry stepped out of his boxers, now fully naked, and crawled back into bed to hover over Louis.

He took Louis’ face in his right hand and ran his thumb against the highest point of his cheekbone.

“So beautiful, baby.”

Louis turned his face to kiss the pad of his thumb and reached his hand out to retrieve the bottle of lube. He flicked the cap open as he kissed the pads of each of Harry’s fingers. Harry was mesmerized by Louis’ thin, pink, lips lightly pressing into his skin, and was slightly caught off guard when he pulled Harry’s hand back to drizzle lube over his first three fingers.

Louis warmed up the substance with his free hand and when he was satisfied, used that same hand to jerk slowly at Harry’s cock. Harry cracked out a whimper at the touch of Louis’ small, delicate, hand wrapped around his thick length.

“Make love to me.” Louis whispered up into his ear and Harry’s eyes filled to the brim with tears.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his desperate lips against Louis’ needy ones. Their tongues danced around in a sensual tango and Harry leaned his weight on one elbow, and brought his other hand between Louis cheeks.

He pulled off of Louis’ lips as slowly as he rubbed his finger around his hole. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and willed himself to open his eyes.

He was met with the sight of the most beautiful man in the world staring back at him with crimson cheeks and fluttering lashes. Louis brought one hand through his hair and the other to wrap around his back. He caressed circles into Harry’s scalp and gave him a slight nod to let him know he was ready.

Their eyes never left each other as Harry slipped the tip of his finger through Louis’ entrance. He watched in awe as Louis’ lips parted and his eyes filled with tears. Harry pushed in deeper and kissed away a single tear that spilled over onto Louis’ cheek.

“So beautiful,” he pulled his finger out and pushed it all the way back in. Louis’ back slightly arched and he squeezed his eyes shut, no longer able to keep them open, “So fucking beautiful.”

He took his time pushing and prodding until Louis was completely at ease. He met Louis’ open mouth with his own as he squeezed in a second finger beside his first. Louis tugged at his hair and moaned into his mouth.

Harry pulled off and let Louis catch his breath. Louis was panting out shallow breaths and he looked up at Harry pleadingly. Harry knew exactly what he needed when he curled his fingers upward and pressed against his prostate.

“Right there.” he begged through whimpers.

Harry curled his fingers up against his sweet spot once more and kept them there rubbing maddeningly pleasurable circles into the nub. Harry watched as Louis’ body turned to puddy and words remained stuck in his throat. He kissed lightly at Louis’ face to remind him that he was still here and he still had him.

Louis’ glazed over eyes met Harry’s as his prostate continued to be stimulated. Harry kissed Louis on the mouth and pulled off to whisper words of encouragement in his ear. Louis’ hips twitched and his hole clenched as Harry applied more pressure to the sensitive nub inside him.

“Harry,” Louis croaked out. Harry immediately turned his attention to him and paused the massaging against his prostate, “Gonna—gonna come like that if you don’t stop.”

“You can come, baby.”

“Not without you inside of me.”

And Harry took that as his cue to add a third and final finger, and properly stretch him out. He stuck to scissoring his fingers in and out of Louis’ tight heat and avoided his prostate until his cock was inside of him.

He wiggled and spread his fingers around until Louis was riding back on them, and decided that he was ready. He withdrew his fingers and wiped them off on the bed sheets. He grabbed the condom and went to line up his cock when he felt a slick substance on his shaft.

“Fuck.” he growled in frustration

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked with worry to his tone.

“Gotta go wipe this off before the condom slips off inside of you.”

He moved to make his way towards the bathroom until his wrist was being tugged back and Louis was desperately staring back at him.

“When’s the last time you were tested?”

Harry thought about the last time, which was during a mandatory physical before he was signed to Sony. His tests came back 100% negative and still never fucked anyone without protection.

“Earlier this year. All negative.” Harry answered.

“Same here,” Louis tugged him closer by his wrist, “I trust you, Harry.”

He pulled Harry down on top of him and kissed him sweetly. Harry felt around for the bottle of lube as his tongue explored Louis’ mouth. Once he found it, he squirted the gel into his palm and slathered the cool liquid against his cock.

He pulled off of Louis’ mouth and leaned back to line his cock up with Louis’ hole. He teased his bare head between his cheeks and watched Louis’ full body reaction.

“Harry, p-please.”

He gave in to Louis’ pleading and wiped his lubed hand between Louis’ cheeks, and pulled a pillow from the top of the bed, to place it under Louis’ hips. When Louis was completely comfortable, he pressed the tip of his cock into Louis’ hole and leaned down to kiss Louis to distract him from the sting.

Louis hissed out anyway and Harry saw fucking stars. The tight wet heat suctioned around the tip of his cock and it was like nothing he ever felt before. He would stay here for the rest of eternity if he had it his way.

He pushed forward slowly, letting Louis’ velvet walls draw him in deeper.

“Feel so good, Lou.” he whispered into his ear, “Taking me so well, almost there.”

Harry slid in further as Louis moaned out in ecstasy. Harry would be lucky if he lasted longer than two minutes, as he was so overwhelmed by Louis’ tight heat, and was so turned on by the fact that he was making love for the first time in his life.

If you would’ve told Harry a year ago that he would be in love, and would laugh and cry during sex, he would’ve laughed you out the building. But now, none of that mattered. He wouldn’t trade any of this for a single day back in his pevious life.

Louis tugged at Harry’s hair with both hands and experimentally ground his ass down against Harry’s cock. The air in Harry’s chest was punched out of him as Louis clenched tightly around him.

“Not gonna last long, babe.” Louis panted out as Harry slid halfway out and pounded back in.

“Me either, baby,” he sped up his thrusts and took Louis’ leaking cock into his hand, “Can’t wait to come inside of you.”

They moaned in harmony as Harry rocked deep and hard inside of him and jerked Louis off at the same speed. Warmth collected in the pit of Harry’s stomach and his thighs tensed as the familiar feeling began to take over him.

“Harry,” Louis called out as skin on skin slapped between them. Harry looked into Louis’ eyes as he felt like he was about to come, “I love you.”

And that was it.

Harry buried himself deep in Louis’ ass and came up against his prostate. Louis rubbed down against the warm feeling inside him and came hard as Harry’s hand squeezed at him pleasurably.

Harry thrust in a few more times riding out his high and stroked at Louis’ cock until he was too sensitive. His body collapsed against Louis’ and they both gasped for air as it was the hardest either of them ever came.

“Amazing,” Harry pressed a kiss into Louis’ neck, “I love you so much, Lou. So much.”

“Love you.” Louis panted out.

They both laid there for a few minutes while they completely calmed down and steadied their breathing. Harry wished he could stay inside of Louis all night, but more than anything, wanted to see his come leak from Louis’ wrecked hole.

He lifted up and slowly pulled his cock from between Louis’ cheeks. White streams trickled out from inside of Louis and Harry’s cock gave an interested twitch.

“Jesus, you could not be more beautiful.” he pushed a finger into Louis’ hole and more come trickled out. He brought the finger to Louis’ mouth and Louis sucked it in enthusiastically.

“Fuck, I was wrong, you could.”

Louis laughed around his finger and blushed adorably. Harry couldn’t help himself when he replaced his finger with his lips and let his tongue slide in to taste himself on Louis’ tongue.

“Mmm,” they both moaned at the flavor.

“Be right back, baby.”

Harry grabbed a cloth from the restroom and quickly wet it before bringing it back to Louis. He wiped down his chest and then cleaned up the mess between his cheeks. Louis looked as if he was embarrassed but Harry just lovingly kissed the bashfulness from his face and whispered how perfect he was.

He tossed the cloth across the room and pulled the dirty sheet off the bed replacing it with a clean one. He cuddled in behind an already half asleep Louis and pulled the sheet up over them.

“Love you, Harry.” Louis rasped out.

He was never going to get tired of hearing that.

“Love you, too.”

  
\--


	16. Chapter 16

“Harry,” Louis poked gently at his side and scattered butterfly kisses on his cheeks, “We need to get ready so we’re not late.”

Harry cracked open his eyes to reveal his lover before him. Soft morning glow surrounding him, freckles lightly dotting his cheeks, love bites still visible from the night before. He was so beautiful. An angel. Angel that loved him back.

Harry leaned in and sleepily pressed his lips against Louis’. Louis snuggled closer into Harry’s chest and lazily ran his fingers through Harry’s curls. The kisses didn't go any further than light presses to the lips, but Harry wouldn’t want to wake up any other way.

“Good morning, my love.” Harry croaked out.

“Good morning.” Louis blushed and hid his face by kissing Harry’s lips.

“What time is it?”

“Half nine.”

Um…

“Does that mean….nine thirty?”

Louis snorted out a laugh and nodded his head, “Yes, love. Forgot you’re as American as they come.”

Harry lightly smacked his still bare ass and lazily flipped them over. He straddled Louis’ hips pressing kisses from the tip of his nose, down to the middle of his chest. He brought his hand down to caress between Louis’ cheeks to check if he was still open, and, fuck, he was.

He moaned and slipped a dry finger in and Louis immediately clenched around him.

“Babe, wait.” he huffed out

Harry completely removed his finger and brought himself up to eye level with Louis, “Fuck, sorry—I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, but, there’s something I wanted to tell you before we started our day…”

Harry stared back at him puzzled.

“Okay,” he drawled out, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Louis vowed, “It’s about what Jamie told me last night.”

“Oh, um, you don’t have to tell me. I was just teasing when I was trying to get it out of you last night.”

“I know, but I feel like I should tell you anyway.” he bit his lip nervously and stared up at Harry.

“Wasn’t it confidential? You won’t get into trouble?”

Louis scoffed at him and sat up so they were facing each other, “I didn’t sign anything and I trust that you wouldn’t sell me out.”

“Of course not, baby.”

“Good. Then listen carefully,” he took in a deep breath and darted his eyes around until he began to speak again, “They want us, Harry.”

“Who wants us? What do you mean?” Harry asked curiously.

“Capitol. All the men we met last night. They want us. They would be a part of our team.”

Harry felt a little dizzy as he let the words soak in, “They want us, as in, to sign us? But, how? They haven’t even heard our material and—“

“I’ll explain everything, babe, just breathe, and listen,” he softly chuckled and tucked a curl behind Harry’s ear, “So, apparently, Capitol has wanted _you_  since before you were dropped from Sony. Jamie and Nate saw one of your performances at a Gala, and were immediately drawn to you.”

What the fuck? Immediately drawn to him? Harry had no idea these people existed before last night and suddenly they’ve wanted him for well over a year?

“When word got out that you were dropped, they were practically on a man hunt, but as they tried to track you down, Sony had no problem trashing your name within the industry, and the people at Capitol decided to hit the breaks until shit surrounding your name simmered down.”

Harry swallowed hard. He knew he fucked up, but was defiling his character necessary? He handed over his music and images accordingly and never threatened the company in any way.

“Remember that day we fought in the studio and I left, then you played our stuff for Niall?” Harry inwardly cringed at the memory but nodded his head anyway.

“Well, by then, Niall had already heard about Nate and Jamie wanting you, and was so impressed by the stuff you played for him, he quite literally put his job on the line, swearing that you aren’t the man Sony painted you to be, and that you joined forces with me, and how our music was amazing, and I was a positive impact on you, but I promise Harry, I didn’t take credit for your transformation.

"I made it very clear to Jamie, last night, that it was all your hard work, and dedication, and that you’ve always been a class act. I wouldn’t ever let someone diminish your own accomplishments but he wasn’t really interested in my words.”

Harry sighed defeatedly. It didn’t sound like they were so keen on wanting to sign him. How was any of this supposed to get any better?

“This week is basically a test. More for you than me, but I promise I’ll be there every step of the way, Harry,” he took Harry’s hands in his own and gave his knuckles sweet kisses, "They want you to prove yourself. Prove that you’re manageable, and can take direction, while still giving your creative input. Jamie used the words ‘trial run’ as in, they want to see if taking us on would be an investment worth making."

“I hope this doesn’t put too much pressure on you, but I felt like this is something you should know. And I based my decision on telling you, as not only your band mate, but as your boyfriend who loves you to the ends of the earth. I know you can do this, babe. You’re so capable and I have no doubt you won’t prove yourself exceedingly.”

Harry’s stomach was in knots and his head was spinning with logistics of the situation, but Louis’ soft voice of encouragement sent him into ease, and he squeezed Louis’ hands between his.

“Baby,” he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Louis’ forehead, “Thank you.”

He leaned back to look Louis in the eyes and repeatedly rubbed circles into the back of his hands.

“I really don’t know what else to say,” he was stuck in a state of shock, “I know you’ll never take credit for me getting my shit together, but you have to know you played a huge role in getting me back on my feet.”

He brought a hand to Louis’ face and rubbed his thumb against his cheekbone, “Without you giving me the opportunity to play alongside you, who knows where I’d be, or where I’d end up.”

“You would’ve made it with or without me, love.” he turned his face to press a kiss against Harry’s palm.

“Thank you for always believing in me. I promise, I won’t let you down, and I promise I’ll do everything in my power to convince them to take us on.”

A huge smile took over Louis’ face and tears filled his eyes, “I can’t believe we’re going to be signed. I just know it!”

He threw his body on top of Harry knocking him onto his back. He attached his lips to Harry’s and moaned when Harry grabbed to handfuls of his bottom.

“Never want to disappoint you, Lou,” he pressed a hard kiss to Louis’ lips, “Gonna do this right for you. For us.”

“I know you will,” he rocked back into Harry’s hands and moaned at the feeling, “I love you.”

Harry’s heart raced and his cheeks heated up, “I love you.”

They resumed their heated make-out session, slurping and smacking echoing in the room, and sheets ruffling beneath them.

“OH,” Louis broke off and leaned back, “I also know who we’re opening for, but that, I’m definitely keeping confidential.” he said with a wink.

Harry smirked and turned Louis over to switch their positions, “Think I have enough time to tease the information out of you?”

“Not to tease, no, but there is more than enough time to fuck it out of me.”

“Good,” he leaned over the side of the bed to grab the discarded bottle of lube from the night before, “But please hold the name until after we’re finished. Don’t really want to hear you hollering out someone else’s name while I’m balls deep.”

They both laughed into each others mouth’s and began to meld into one.

Harry couldn’t fucking believe he was getting another shot at his dream, with the man he loved more than anything by his side. No matter what it took he was going to do this for them, he refused to let the pressure take it’s toll. He was going to get them that deal and he was going to give back to Louis for everything he’d done for him.

—

The next week went by in a blur.

Sunday from noon till late, Harry and Louis were busy playing their demos to different branches of the company, and playing their material live and on demand whenever someone requested. Louis informed Harry that they would be opening for Tori Kelly, which wasn’t their biggest artist, but was quickly on the rise, and brought in tons of fans.

Monday, for them, started off early in the morning. They were told to choose the three songs they felt truly represented them and would possibly have the best crowd feedback. It sounded easy enough, seeing as they only had four songs to choose from, but with different industry big shots in their ears, and their potential future team advising them, it was a more difficult decision than it needed to be.

The rest of Monday and the entirety of Tuesday were dedicated to auditioning nearly fifty people for the role of their drummer, bass guitar player, and their keyboardist.

The drummer ended up being a young woman around their age, a daughter of a drummer, and named after Sheila E herself. The bassist was a man in his early twenties who was new to the industry but had promising and undeniable talents. And last, but not least, their keyboardist role was filled by a young, yet, well seasoned, contemporary music professor at the USC Thornton School of Music.

Harry and Louis were equally impressed with their temporary live band and welcomed them with open arms.

Wednesday was all about rehearsal. Luckily, the new band members were sent home with their demos and were told to play it to death until they had the gist of their own parts. The day mostly consisted of roughly bringing the studio versions of the songs to life and working out the inevitable kinks. They played until their fingers were calloused and their legs turned to jelly from squatting, bouncing, and standing around for hours.

Thursday morning till mid afternoon was all about polishing the live band's sound. Harry and Louis were as supportive as they could be, while being on temporary vocal rest, applauding obnoxiously and bouncing around with blissed out smiles on their faces. They were already majorly proud of the acoustic sounds of their songs, but finally having thumping base lines, electric guitars, and synth noises from the keyboard, tied everything together in the most satisfying way.

Niall had pulled them to the side that evening and informed them that A&R was very impressed with their professionalism, and their promotional and marketing departments were pleased with Harry’s “progress”. Harry was proud of the work he’s accomplished over the last few days and even he knew he was acting the complete opposite of whatever the label may have heard of him.

Friday was the day before the show and of course that called for hair and wardrobe. The both of them were treated to trims and deep conditioning. Louis’ facial hair was plucked and trimmed in all the right places to look fresh and Natural. Harry was given treatment for his curls and winced through each pluck of his eyebrows. They were both shown options of different designer clothing that closely resembled the personal styles they already had. Harry stuck to his button up, black jean, and chelsea boot combination, and Louis slightly switched it up choosing a sheer button up with a jacket, to go along with his tight black jeans, and pointed dress shoes.

Harry’s mouth fucking watered. The sheerness of the shirt was just enough to make out the dip of his belly button and the rosy pink of his nipples. Harry couldn’t wait to play the show and rip the damn thing off of him.

Finally, it was Saturday evening, and Harry, Louis, and the band just wrapped up soundcheck.

Every President, Vice president, director, and coordinator, from every branch, would be in attendance tonight, along with a crowd of nearly four thousand people.

Yeah. No pressure.

Harry was definitely feeling the nerves kick in and he just needed to be alone with Louis for longer than a second. He turned to find Louis walking directly behind him fiddling with his thumbs. Harry filled the empty space between their fingers with each others hands and tugged Louis into the direction of their pre-show room.

He opened the door letting Louis walk in ahead of him, and closed and locked the door behind them. There was a small couch in the middle of the dimly lit room and mirrors on each wall. Harry sat in one corner of the couch and pulled Louis down into his lap.

They were silent as each of them adjusted to get comfortable. Harry slid his hand underneath the bottom of Louis’ shirt and caressed at his spine in a soothing way. Louis tucked his head into Harry’s neck and grazed his finger tips over the exposed skin of his collar bones. The littlest touch calmed him immensely and he could feel his rapid heart rate slow to a steady pace.

“You nervous, Lou?”

Louis moved his head to look up at Harry and continued his light touches against his chest, “Yeah. Never played in front of four thousand people.”

He shrugged his shoulders weakly and tucked his wobbling lip between his teeth.

“Hey,” Harry sat up and brought a hand to his face, “Baby, whats wrong?”

Harry caressed at Louis’ back and scalp with worry in his heart. Louis was usually so pumped before shows, and to see him on the verge of tears before his biggest show yet, was slightly alarming.

Louis continued to bite at his lip, willing himself not to cry, until he could finally whisper out the words, “What if they hate it, Harry? What if Zayn was right and I’m shit at what I do?”

Harry saw fucking red. He was so angry that he managed to worm himself inside Louis’ brain, right before the biggest show of his life, and completely kill his confidence, all over again. If their paths ever crossed Harry wouldn’t hesitate to knock his lights out.

“Louis, you’re not shit at what you do,” Louis tilted his head down to avoid Harry’s words but Harry picked him back up by the chin and placed a calming kiss to his lips, “Do you think, Capitol, world renowned record label, would want you to open up for one of their artists, and have intentions to sign you, if you were shit at what you do?”

Louis pursed his lips and blinked back a tear, “No.”

“Do you believe you’re shit at what you do?” Harry asked genuinely concerned.

“Well, no, but—“

“Then that’s all that matters, baby,” he wiped his thumb where a stray tear escaped from Louis’ eye, “Everyone knows you’re insanely talented and creative. You’re so educated in this field and you leave me speechless daily on everything you’re capable of. I know you’re brilliant, _you_  know you’re brilliant, soon the entire world will know you’re brilliant."

Louis gave him a watery smile and the worry in Harry’s chest began to dissipate.

“You were born to do this, Lou, and if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed or insecure, you can always come to me, and I’ll gladly remind you how amazing you are, and I’ll support you always, just like I know you would with me.”

Louis wrapped his arms tightly around Harry’s neck and Harry did the same around Louis’ waist. Louis sniffled into his collar a few times and Harry rocked him back and forth, letting him get out everything he needed.

“I love you.” Louis mumbled into Harry’s curls.

“I love you.” he pressed a kiss to Louis’ shoulder and shuddered and the abrupt banging against their door.

“On in ten!” a muffled voice came from the other side.

Harry’s heart dropped to his ass but he physically remained calm to be strong for Louis, “On our way, thanks!”

He let Louis lay there for a few moments longer, letting him collect himself, and calm down as much as possible. Louis removed himself from his neck and wiped at his eyes. He smiled down at Harry and leaned in for a passionate, loving, kiss. Harry let his hands roam across Louis’ body to hopefully take his mind off of the four thousand people awaiting them.

Harry gave his ass a tight squeeze and Louis immediately pulled off with a laugh, “You trying to give me a pre-show hard on?”

“Maybe,” he smiled up at Louis smugly, “Is it working?”

Louis rolled his eyes and planted three short kisses to his lips. The two of them let the last few moments of silence settle around them peacefully. Harry took Louis’ hands between his and pressed a kiss to each one.

“You ready, my love?”

“As long as you’ll be by my side.”

“Always.”

\--


	17. Chapter 17

“Gentlemen, thank you for meeting us on such short notice.” Nate addressed the pair of them.

Their four song show went off wonderfully. The nerves and insecurity Louis was experiencing before they took the stage melted instantly as he wrapped his guitar over his body and went to address the crowd. Louis’ positive vibes transferred straight into Harry, and the two of them played better than ever before.

As soon as they exited the stage, a handler shoved them into a blacked out SUV, and told them they were being escorted to Capitol’s offices, immediately. Harry and Louis’ adrenaline was still pumping through their veins and sitting through a car ride, not knowing why they needed to be at the offices in a hurry, made them nauseous.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, but as soon as your show ended, I had to get the two of you down here right away.”

Nate poured himself a glass of water and Harry looked to an equally puzzled Louis and shrugged his shoulders.

“Is there an emergency, or did something go wrong?” Louis asked cautiously.

“No, none of that. This is more of an impromptu meeting about taking you two on as clients.”

Harry squeezed Louis’ hand under the table and desperately tried to swallow down the butterflies in his tummy.

“Now,” Nate pushed his chair in closer to the two of them and gave them his full attention, “There will be no signing of actual contracts today, but the sooner we negotiate a deal that everyone agrees on, the sooner we can get you both signed to the label, and into a proper studio.

“Mr. Styles, we are aware with your past with Sony Entertainment, and we will provide our most trusted lawyers if they decide to issue a lawsuit against you, which is highly unlikely, and you’d be protected by our own anyway.

"We wanted to test you out this week, and from what I’ve heard about you, Mr. Styles, I wasn’t too sure that was the right idea. But you have done a fantastic job proving yourself, not only to me, but my bosses, and their bosses, and heads of different branches. You’re a true artist and very professional, and the chemistry between this duet is unlike anything we’ve ever come across with this company. Everyone agrees that we’ve come across something special with you two, and we’re willing to comply with your wants, needs, and goals, within reason.”

Holy fuck.

“We really appreciate you’re eagerness and willingness to work with us, but if we could be given an outline of what the company expects from us, I think that would make it easier on both sides, when deciding what’s within reason and what’s not.” Louis spoke diplomatically.

Harry was so fucking glad he had Louis. He was ready to sign today but now realizes if they are truly willing to meet their demands and work with them, they’ll be able to provide details on what is expected from them.

“Of course, Mr. Tomlinson, I’ll have my staff get on that right away,” he paused to take a sip of his water and set it back down to finish off his thought, “I want the two of you to take the next few days and think hard on this. Think about your brand, your images, how many albums you wish to make in the next five years, how long you want to tour, how much family time you want, percentages, cuts, wages, your personal relationships,” he said with a pause and a raised eyebrow, “You wouldn’t be the first out artists we’ve signed and you wouldn’t be the first closeted either. I want you two, to spend a ton of time thinking over that, because we value your mental health, and we understand the difficulties lqbt people face everyday in this industry.”

Harry and Louis looked to each other and squeezed their hands tighter under the table.

“Just please remember fellas, we want you here, and are willing to work with you. Not every company can be as accommodating.”

He stood from his chair and pushed it in behind him. Harry and Louis stood as well and shook the hand that was offered to them.

“I don’t mean to be presumptuous when I say this, but welcome to Capitol, gentlemen. It’s going to be a pleasure working with you.”

Harry bit down hard on his cheek to smother his smile before it took over his face, “Likewise. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Nate gave them a smile and a wave before excusing himself out the door.

As soon as the door clicked shut Harry picked Louis up by the waist and hugged him tight to his chest. He spun them around, and around, barely containing his squeals of excitement. Louis wasn’t much better off as he wrapped his ankles around Harry’s back and squeezed tightly in enthusiasm.

“Harry we fucking did it! We’re actually going to do this!” he pressed a harsh kiss to Harry’s lips and it quickly turned to mostly teeth since neither of them could contain their smiles.

“I’m so proud of us, baby, fuck!” he pressed a wet kiss to Louis’ cheek and hugged him even tighter.

“God, it still doesn’t fee real. I’ll have to call mum, and we’ll have to spend a ton of time doing our research, and we’ll have to have some deep talks, but, I’m ready.”

Harry smiled blissfully back at Louis and set him down gently, “I’m ready too, Lou. There’s still so much we could accomplish, and I can’t wait to do it all with you.”

“As long as you’ll be by my side.” Louis beamed up at Harry.

Harry took his chin between his fingers and slowly eased his lips against Louis’. It was like kissing him for the first time all over again. His stomach was tingling, his lips were on fire, and the electricity in the room was sizzling.

There was no one else on earth he’d rather live out this experience with and he couldn’t wait to make their forever, his reality.

“Always.”

\--

**Author's Note:**

> Come tell me what you think! [ Tumblr ](http://www.summerwinefics.tumblr.com)


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